The US Department of Homeland Security has proposed that international students pay at least $70,000 in training fees to work in the country, according to a government notice posted online on Wednesday.
Under the proposal, nonimmigrant students on F-1 visas would pay $70,000 to a certified institution for on-the-job training — the scheme known as Optional Practical Training (OPT) — and $30,000 for any additional work training. Students currently pay around $500 to enrol.
DHS said the new rules were meant “to combat fraud, strengthen the integrity of the immigration system, and protect US workers”. The agency added that it “is now setting a fee to ensure employers, students, and institutions are engaging in appropriate activities consistent with admission as an F-1 nonimmigrant”.
Under the OPT system, foreign students can work up to 20 hours a week while school is in session, and for a limited period after graduation, with an additional allowance for graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Why this matters for Sri Lankan graduates
OPT is the standard bridge between a US degree and skilled employment. Students who complete it commonly move on to apply for an H-1B visa — the route the Trump administration has already targeted with sharply higher charges.
This is a separate measure from the H-1B fee this desk has previously reported, and the two should not be confused:
- The H-1B charge is a fee on the employer-sponsored skilled worker visa, proposed at $103,265 to be made permanent in August, after the underlying order was extended for another year in September. Courts have blocked the government from collecting it and an appeal is pending.
- The new proposal targets the student visa stage that precedes it, charging the student rather than an employer.
Taken together, the two measures would raise the cost of the study-to-work pathway at both ends.
Not reported
The filings do not say when the proposed fee would take effect, whether a public comment period has opened or how long it would run, or whether the charge would apply to students already enrolled in OPT. They do not say whether the measure faces the same legal challenge that has stalled the H-1B fee, and they give no figure for how many Sri Lankan students currently use OPT.
Both Sri Lankan outlets carry the same wire copy — the Daily Mirror credits The Telegraph online — so while two verified newsrooms published the report, this is one wire account rather than two independent ones.
