Optional Practical Training
146
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45
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Search complete. 146 mentions across 45 episodes found for "Optional Practical Training".
Oct 26, 2026
Elise FialkowskiHOST
So let's turn to the rule itself and let's talk about the basics of the rule because it is a completely new change.
Elise FialkowskiHOST
The rule proposes a fee of $70,000 for any initial optional practical training or OPT and then an additional $30,000 for subsequent OPT or optional practical training.
Elise FialkowskiHOST
Interestingly, under the rule, the fee is not paid by an employer.
Elise FialkowskiHOST
The rule states that the institutions, so the universities are going to be paying the $70,000 fee and then the $30,000 fee.
Vasanthan RamakrishnanGUEST
Yeah.
Evan MackHOST
So Vaz, what does a realistic 018 candidate from the F1 STEM OPT population actually look like?
Vasanthan RamakrishnanGUEST
Of course, you know, there's a lot of what can go in there, right, with that.
Vasanthan RamakrishnanGUEST
There's always people who, you know, have maybe finished their PhD and, you know, they're publishing actively.
9 MINS LATER
Vasanthan RamakrishnanGUEST
The company then becomes the immigration attorney and the company work together.
Vasanthan RamakrishnanGUEST
So it would be in that arrangement, yes.
Evan MackHOST
How far before the OPT or CPT exploration should someone begin evaluating this kind of option?
Vasanthan RamakrishnanGUEST
I know this is also a very interesting thing, by the way, because this is also a common question that keeps coming in.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
So to an employer who's picking from college graduates, right? There are about 2 million of those every year.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
We issued 290,000 of these OPT registrations this year.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
So of our 2 million graduates, and there's another maybe 800 or a million of associate degrees, but let's just say the pool is 2 million.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
290,000 foreign graduates authorized to work in the United States just last calendar year competing against our American graduates.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
And a lot of folks may be familiar, there's $100,000 fee, and we can talk about that imposed last year via presidential proclamation for H-1B, and it got struck down.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
It was in effect last cap season.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
The OPT fee is being proposed now through like the formal notice and comment program, et cetera, et cetera.
Jason KillmeyerGUEST
And they're proposing that for every single one of those issued, the university, not the employer, the university will have to pay $70,000.
speaker_0HOST
He spends considerable
speaker_1HOST
time on H-1B visas, OPT, CPT programs, calling them a pipeline that undercuts American wages— Universities recruit foreign students, collect tuition, then feed employers a lower-cost workforce.
speaker_0HOST
And while he notes the administration has started pushing back with higher fees and enforcement, he argues deeper action is needed.
speaker_0HOST
He sees the country entering a realignment where the choice becomes mass deportation or mass importation.
Seulki LeeCORRESPONDENT
The Department of Homeland Security proposed new optional practical training fees on October 7th.
Seulki LeeCORRESPONDENT
Under the proposal, schools would pay $70,000 for an initial OPT recommendation and an additional $30,000 for a subsequent recommendation.
Seulki LeeCORRESPONDENT
School could pass these costs on to students or employers.
Riley MooreGUEST
We do, as citizens, have rights and privileges as it relates to our own marketplace.
Riley MooreGUEST
So, and the OPT program, that's another one where students are working part-time in STEM industries.
Riley MooreGUEST
By the way, those, uh, industries don't have to pay payroll taxes when they have an, uh, somebody on an OPT visa.
Scott JenningsHOST
Hmm.
Riley MooreGUEST
They, you got well over a half a million of those.
Riley MooreGUEST
So every year, you got H-1B and OPT, more people on those visas than the entire population of the state of West Virginia.
Scott JenningsHOST
Hmm.
Riley MooreGUEST
I, I mean, it just doesn't make any sense, and I know there's been some changes in it.
Riley MooreGUEST
We do, as citizens, have rights and privileges as it relates to our own marketplace.
Riley MooreGUEST
So, and the OPT program, that's another one where students are working part-time in STEM industries.
Riley MooreGUEST
By the way, those, uh, industries don't have to pay payroll taxes when they have an, uh, somebody on an OPT visa.
Scott JenningsHOST
Hmm.
Riley MooreGUEST
Th- you got well over a half a million of those.
Riley MooreGUEST
So every year, you got H-1B and OPT, more people on those visas than the entire population of the state of West Virginia.
Scott JenningsHOST
Hmm.
Riley MooreGUEST
I, I mean, it just doesn't make any sense, and I know there's been some changes in it.
Mushtaq GunjaHOST
Let me move us over to immigration.
Mushtaq GunjaHOST
Sarah, it seems like there was news on optional practical training, OPT, last week.
Mushtaq GunjaHOST
What happened?
Sarah SpreitzerHOST
Yeah, we had been waiting to see this proposed rule, which we knew was coming, and the administration has proposed to raise a fee on optional practical training, which is the period of time an international student can stay in the United States after they complete their studies to get practical training like on the job work training.
Sarah SpreitzerHOST
It generally is a year for up to three years.
Sarah SpreitzerHOST
The program was established by George H.W. Bush and then it was expanded by his son George W. Bush when he was president.
Iskra PantevaGUEST
Um, so for example, uh, if, um, the employee is here in the United States, they have a little bit more tools, uh, to provide employment.
Iskra PantevaGUEST
Uh, so if the, you know, if the employee is a student, they might come on OPT, STEM OPT.
Iskra PantevaGUEST
They can, um, try to get them on a H-1B.
Iskra PantevaGUEST
So there is a lot of, a little bit more options if, uh, the employee is here in the United States.
Patrick CaseyHOST
Everything I've heard from people who know within the presidentia- the Trump administration about the H-1B program is they're doing what they can to gut it.
Patrick CaseyHOST
Now, the Trump administration can and should end the OPT program.
Patrick CaseyHOST
It can do that.
Patrick CaseyHOST
The H-1B program was, uh, created through Congress, right, through legislation, so you would-- it would largely require, my understanding, congressional action to undo, like altogether undo.
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