As US visa policies tighten, international students find job market tougher

For decades, international students hoping to stay in the United States after graduation faced relatively few barriers.

- AMY QIN & POOJA SALHOTRA

Temporary employment programs designed to attract skilled talent made it easy to transition from studying to working. And employers were eager to hire these students, especially those with STEM degrees.

But that once open road to a job in the United States is now full of hurdles.

The Trump administration has upended the H-1B program, a skilled-worker visa sought by many international students, by imposing a $100,000 fee on new applicants and introducing a new lottery based on wage levels.

And Homeland Security has indefinitely paused the processing of visa applications for people from 39 countries.

The director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services added to the uncertainty by questioning the future of the Optional Practical Training program, which allows international students to work for up to three years in the country after graduation.

There is also a deadline. Most graduating students have up to five months to find a job before being kicked out of the country.

“It’s just getting unfriendlier and unfriendlier,” said Caroline Liu, 21, a Chinese citizen who is a graduating computer science major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Supporters of the new visa rules say that lowering the number of foreign students — 1.3 million in 2025 — will protect jobs for Americans, especially in a challenging job market.

A few changes to immigration rules may benefit some international students in the US.

The new $100,000 fee for H-1B applicants applies only to people who do not already live in the country, meaning that international students in the United States actually had better odds of winning that visa lottery this year because of fewer applications from people abroad.