Trump administration proposes $100,000 fee for work authorization for international students

From ScienceMag:

President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled a proposal this week to attach a $100,000 fee to a program that allows international students in the United States to stay and work in the country for up to 3 years after graduation. The program, called Optional Practical Training (OPT), is a crucial pathway for students in science fields to enter the U.S. workforce and strengthen their applications as they pursue more permanent status in the country.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the fee seeks “to combat fraud, strengthen the integrity of the immigration system, and protect U.S. workers.” But some experts fear it’ll hamper the U.S.’s ability to attract foreign talent. It “will obliterate the pipeline,” Michael Clemens, an economist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Government & Policy, told Nature. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that the federal government was considering the new fee.

The proposed rule would require universities to pay up to $100,000 for each student they recommend to the OPT program. Until now, the monetary burden of the application fell solely on students, who are required to pay up to $2250 when submitting their initial OPT requests to the Citizenship and Immigration Services. The administration says the move would encourage universities to better vet employment efforts secured by students. But it’s unclear how universities will react to the large sum, or whether they would require students to shoulder the new fee.

Although the proposal has rung alarm bells for international students, it may not ever take effect. Courts have repeatedly challenged federal immigration changes. Most recently, a judge blocked the administration’s attempt to cap international students’ stay in the country to 4 years, a limit that would have particularly impacted those pursuing Ph.D. programs that tend to last more than 4 years.

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