The White House has finished reviewing a proposed rule that would add a new fee for international students seeking Optional Practical Training (OPT). According to Bloomberg Law, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) concluded its review of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s proposal, titled “Optional Practical Training Fees” (RIN 1653-AB01), on September 11, 2026, and marked it consistent with change. As of September 15, the rule no longer appears on reginfo.gov’s list of Department of Homeland Security rules pending review. The H-1B program reform proposal that DHS sent over on August 24 is still on that list.
ICE submitted the proposal to OIRA on August 20. The docket rated it economically significant, meaning an expected annual impact of $100 million or more. It had also never appeared in a Unified Agenda, so students had no advance notice. OIRA clearance is the last internal step before a notice of proposed rulemaking can be published in the Federal Register. As of this writing, no OPT fee document has appeared in the Federal Register or on its public inspection list.
The fee amount is still unknown. The OIRA record does not disclose it. Students have been sharing a figure of $100,000 on Xiaohongshu and the 1Point3Acres forum, but it comes from a July 30, 2026 Wall Street Journal report that the administration was weighing a charge of that size. No published rule text confirms it. Zeng Law Group made the same point in a September 14 post on 1Point3Acres: the clearance revived the rumor without adding any new information about the amount. Today, OPT has no separate ICE charge. Students pay the USCIS Form I-765 filing fee for the work permit, and they paid ICE’s I-901 SEVIS fee ($350 for F-1 students) when they first applied. Any new OPT fee would be an extra cost on top of those.
What happens next: once the proposed rule is published, it will show the amount, who would pay it (initial OPT, the 24-month STEM extension, or both), and when it could apply. Publication will open a public comment period, typically 30 to 60 days. DHS must then review the comments before it can issue a final rule, and no fee can be charged until a final rule takes effect. The proposal comes as F-1 policy is already under legal challenge: on September 14, a federal court in Massachusetts postponed DHS’s rule ending duration of status for F-1 and J-1 holders.
What it means for students: nothing changes today for anyone currently on OPT or STEM OPT, or for applications filed now. Students who are already eligible to file (the initial OPT window opens 90 days before the program end date) have no reason to delay. Anyone planning an H-1B, EB-2 or National Interest Waiver case later should keep in mind that OPT is often where they build the U.S. work record those petitions rely on, and should watch the Federal Register for the proposal and its comment deadline.
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Source: 1Point3Acres (一亩三分地)