Under the new plan, students would reportedly have to pay $100,000 to work in the US — that’s over Rs 95 lakh at current exchange rates.
Here’s a number that should worry every Indian student dreaming of a US degree — $100,000.
That’s the fee the Trump administration is reportedly weighing on international students who want to work in America after they graduate. If it goes through, it could shut the door on one of the most popular pathways Indian students use to build a career in the US.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, top officials in the US are considering attaching a six-figure price tag to a work permit called “Optional Practical Training (OPT)”. However, the White House hasn’t announced anything official yet.
For lakhs of Indian families who spend crores sending their children to US universities, that’s reason enough to sit up and take notice.
What Exactly Is Being Proposed?
Right now, OPT lets international students work in the US for up to a year after finishing their degree, without needing a separate work visa. Students in STEM fields — science, tech, engineering, maths — get an extra two years on top of that. So, a computer science graduate can work in the US for up to three years on OPT alone.
It’s the bridge that gets Indian graduates from a US classroom to a US job. And often, it’s the bridge to something bigger: the H-1B visa, America’s main work visa for skilled foreign professionals.
Under the new plan, students would reportedly have to pay $100,000 — that’s over Rs 95 lakh at current exchange rates — just to access this bridge. For most families, that’s simply not affordable. Officials pushing the idea say OPT has been misused for visa fraud and overstays. Critics say it will just price out genuine talent.
This Isn’t Trump’s First $100,000 Move
If this number sounds familiar, it should. Earlier this year, the Trump administration slapped a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications too. That move hit the tech industry hard, since American companies use H-1B visas to hire specialised foreign workers — and Indians make up nearly three out of every four H-1B holders.
That H-1B fee ran into legal trouble almost immediately. A federal appeals court in Boston blocked the government from enforcing it just last week, after pushback from big tech companies. So, this new OPT proposal looks like a second attempt at the same goal — cutting down the number of foreign workers in the US — just approached from a different angle.
Why This Hits Indian Students Hardest
India isn’t just another country on this list. It’s the biggest one.
According to the latest Open Doors report, over 3.63 lakh Indian students were enrolled in US institutions in 2024-25 — the highest of any country in the world, ahead of even China. Indian students made up nearly a third of all international students in America that year.
And OPT is central to why so many Indians choose the US in the first place. Data shows Indian participation in OPT jumped by 47 percent in a single year, with roughly 40 per cent of Indian students in the US taking part in the programme. For many, the calculation is simple: take on education loans now, work in the US for a few years after graduating, and pay it all back with a US salary.
A $100,000 fee breaks that calculation completely. It would mean students already stretching their finances for tuition and living costs would need to find an entirely new, massive sum — just for permission to work legally after they’ve already earned their degree.
Education consultants say the fallout could show up fast: fewer Indian students choosing STEM programmes in the US, more students looking at Canada, the UK, Germany or Australia instead, and Indian graduates already in the US scrambling to figure out their next move before any rule change kicks in.
A Pattern of Tightening Rules
This proposal doesn’t exist in isolation. Indian student enrollment was already showing cracks before this news broke. New enrollments for Indian students fell by close to 45 per cent between August 2024 and August 2025, according to US government arrival data, driven largely by visa interview delays and stricter scrutiny.
