Morning Edition · Friday, July 31, 2026Published at 1:16 AM EDT · New York
Trump Administration Weighs 100,000-Dollar Fee on Graduate Work Visas as Court Voids H-1B Charge
The proposed levy on post-study work permits would fall heavily on Indian graduates, days after a court struck down a similar fee on skilled-worker visas as an unlawful tax.
The United States Department of Homeland Security is considering a fee of 100,000 dollars on Optional Practical Training (OPT) permits, which let foreign graduates work in the country after finishing their studies, The Hindu reported, citing The Wall Street Journal. OPT is an extension of the F-1 student visa and is used heavily by graduates from India and China who go on to work in technology.
The proposal comes just as courts rejected a parallel measure. A court struck down the administration's 100,000-dollar fee on H-1B skilled-worker visas, classifying the charge as a tax that the president lacked authority to impose. Separately, Washington has tightened visa rules for international students, exchange visitors and journalists, shortening the period graduates have to leave or change status after finishing school from 60 days to 30.
Taken together, the measures point to a broad effort to raise the cost and reduce the time available for foreign talent to remain in the United States, even as one part of that effort has already failed in court.
Part of a tracked trend
US Skilled-Migration Clampdown
Washington's escalating fees and restrictions on student and skilled-worker visas recurrently raise costs for US technology employers and redirect global talent toward rival hubs, even as courts strike down individual measures.
- If true, who benefits
The framing advances an immigration-restriction agenda, and rival talent hubs in Canada, Europe and India gain while US technology employers and universities bear the cost.
- The nuance
The OPT levy is a reported proposal under consideration rather than an enacted rule, and the parallel H-1B fee was already struck down as an unlawful tax and upheld on appeal.
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What this means
US technology employers depend on foreign graduates and skilled workers to fill engineering roles, so steep fees and shorter grace periods raise their labor costs and push talent toward rival centers in Canada, Europe and India itself. American tech firms and universities are exposed through hiring and enrollment, while competing destinations gain. The court defeat on the H-1B fee shows the policy also carries legal risk, which means the overall direction is set even if specific measures keep being challenged.
What to watch
- Whether Homeland Security formally proposes the OPT fee, which would move it from a report to an actionable rule employers must plan around.
- How Indian IT services firms and US universities adjust hiring and recruitment, the first real-economy response to the tightening.
- Further court challenges, since the H-1B ruling suggests fee-based restrictions may not survive judicial review.
Observations to monitor, not financial advice.
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