U.S. Reviews a 140 Million Won Fee for Foreign Students Who Find Jobs Locally

[Financial News] The Trump administration, which has been tightening rules on foreign residents in the United States, is reportedly planning to charge foreign students who graduated from U.S. universities a fee if they find jobs in the country. Those students would have to pay $100,000, or about 142.55 million won, if they obtain a U.S. work visa.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 30th, local time, citing sources familiar with the matter. The sources said the Trump administration is considering imposing a $100,000 employment fee on foreign students under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program.
OPT allows foreign nationals who studied at U.S. undergraduate or graduate schools to work while job hunting on a student visa alone, without obtaining a new work visa. In general, it permits an automatic one-year extension of stay, and students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields can remain for up to three additional years.
WSJ said that about 419,000 foreign nationals worked for U.S. companies through OPT in 2024. If the Trump administration were to charge each of them $100,000, it could generate an additional $41.9 billion in revenue.
WSJ said the move, if implemented, would "significantly advance President Donald Trump's efforts to restrict all forms of legal immigration."
According to the sources, the Trump administration had originally planned to apply the fee to H-1B visas for skilled workers. Last September, Trump signed a proclamation to raise the H-1B visa fee to $100,000, 100 times the current $1,000. However, a federal court in Massachusetts ruled in June that the plan was illegal.
The Trump administration is now believed to have shifted course and is looking to collect the fee at the OPT stage, before students receive H-1B visas.
WSJ noted that it is unclear whether the $100,000 fee would be paid by the students or by the companies that hire them. If implemented, the measure is expected to deal a major blow to U.S. universities that rely on foreign students as a stable source of income, as well as to U.S. technology and financial firms that hire large numbers of foreign graduates.
In a statement sent to WSJ, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said, "No policy should be considered final until there is an official announcement." The spokesperson added, "At DHS, we are always discussing how to use every tool at our disposal to protect the integrity of the legal immigration system."
[email protected] Park Jong-won Reporter