Last checked: 18 September 2026
This page is updated when a court order, federal rule or agency instruction materially changes the position. It provides general educational information, not legal advice. A student making a filing, travel or employment decision should confirm the current position with the university’s designated school official (DSO) and, where appropriate, qualified US immigration counsel.
Over the past few weeks, parents have sent us versions of the same questions. Has CPT been cancelled? Does OPT still exist? Did the new four-year rule take effect? Is a $100,000 OPT fee now official?
Several different developments have arrived within weeks of one another: a final rule, a federal court order, new SEVP guidance on CPT and two future rulemaking projects. A headline rarely tells you which of these is already in force.
Here is the position we could verify through 18 September 2026.
The short answer
| Issue | Position on 18 September 2026 | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| F-1 Duration of Status (D/S) | Still operative | A federal court postponed the new fixed-admission rule before it took effect. |
| Four-year / fixed-admission rule | On hold nationwide | The rule was not vacated and the case continues, but DHS and ICE cannot implement it while the order remains in place. |
| F-1 post-completion period | Ordinary 60-day framework remains | The postponed rule generally would have moved students under its new system to 30 days, subject to limited transition provisions. The grace period is not work authorization. |
| CPT | Still exists; harder to qualify for under current SEVP guidance | An optional internship course or academic credit alone may no longer satisfy the interpretation schools are being told to apply. |
| Regular OPT | Still available | Eligible students may receive up to 12 months at an educational level, subject to the usual DSO and USCIS process. |
| STEM OPT | Still available | Eligible students may apply for a further 24-month extension and must meet the additional STEM OPT conditions. |
| “$100,000 OPT fee” | Not current law and not an official published amount | A fee proposal cleared OIRA review, but the text and official fee amount were not public by the date of this update. |
| Broader Practical Training rule | Future proposal | The agenda lists a February 2027 target for an NPRM. No proposal text is public yet. |
What happened to the four-year rule?
On 17 July 2026, DHS published a final rule that would have replaced the longstanding D/S system for F, J and I nonimmigrants with fixed periods of admission. For many F-1 students, admission would have been tied to the programme length and capped at four years at a time. Students needing longer would often have needed an Extension of Stay. The rule also contained restrictions affecting academic changes and generally reduced the ordinary post-completion departure period from 60 days to 30 days for students under the new system.
On 14 September, one day before the rule was due to take effect, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV postponed its effective date nationwide under section 705 of the Administrative Procedure Act. The court did not vacate the rule or enter final judgment. It postponed implementation while the case proceeds.
As of 18 September, we found no public appeal or stay that changed the order. The next scheduled district-court status conference is 2 October. Families should treat the rule as on hold. The court has not permanently struck it down.
For now, the existing D/S framework and the ordinary F-1 60-day post-completion framework remain operative. A separate proposed rule published on 11 September with “60-day grace period” in its title does not cover the F-1 post-completion grace period; it concerns specified employment-based classifications.
CPT still exists, but the interpretation has tightened
The F-1 regulation still recognizes Curricular Practical Training. CPT can cover an internship, practicum, cooperative education or another form of practical training that is an integral part of an established curriculum.
The immediate change comes from two August 2026 SEVP Broadcast Messages, BCM 2608-01 and BCM 2608-02. Under the interpretation in the second message, academic credit or an optional internship course alone is not enough. The practical training must be required for all students in the relevant curriculum, regardless of citizenship, and completing the programme must depend on satisfying that requirement.
BCM 2608-02 says that it is guidance, rather than a rule or final SEVP action. Universities are nevertheless changing how they review CPT, and some institutions paused certain authorizations while they worked through it.
If CPT is part of the reason a family likes a programme, asking “Does this university allow CPT?” will not get a reliable answer. Ask how that particular degree is structured:
- Is the internship, co-op or practicum required for every student in that curriculum?
- Does the student need it to graduate?
- How is the requirement described in the catalogue?
- How is the international office applying the August guidance to new and already-approved CPT requests?
A required co-op and an optional internship may now receive different answers even when both sit inside the same university.
OPT and STEM OPT remain available
Regular OPT and the 24-month STEM OPT extension have not been abolished.
Eligible F-1 students may receive up to 12 months of OPT at an educational level. Pre-completion OPT generally uses part of that allotment. Post-completion OPT requires a DSO recommendation and USCIS employment authorization, and the work must be directly related to the student’s major area of study. Qualifying regular OPT activity generally needs to total at least 20 hours a week; qualifying unpaid work can count for regular OPT, but the rules are different for STEM OPT.
An eligible STEM graduate may apply for a further 24-month extension. The student needs a qualifying degree, an E-Verify employer, a completed Form I-983 and a bona fide employer-employee relationship. STEM OPT work must be paid and generally at least 20 hours a week per employer. Reporting, validation and unemployment limits also apply.
One rule that has not changed: 12 months or more of full-time CPT at the same educational level makes a student ineligible for OPT at that level. Part-time CPT does not create that disqualification.
A filing warning for this autumn
USCIS introduced 09/15/26 editions of Form I-765 and Form I-539 with no grace period for the older editions. Form I-765 is used for OPT and STEM OPT employment authorization. A student preparing a filing should download a fresh copy on the day of filing, check the edition date and confirm the timing with the DSO. Do not reuse a form saved earlier.
Is a $100,000 OPT fee coming?
ICE sent a proposed rule titled Optional Practical Training Fees, RIN 1653-AB01, to OIRA on 20 August. OIRA completed its review on 11 September and marked the action “Consistent with Change.”
The OIRA record confirms that a fee proposal is moving. It does not disclose the proposed amount. As of 18 September, no proposal text had been published in the Federal Register and the official record contained no $100,000 figure. That number came from press reporting based on unnamed sources, not from a published DHS proposal.
We will analyse the proposal when DHS publishes the actual text. Until then, a $100,000 OPT fee is neither current law nor an official published proposal amount.
A broader Practical Training proposal is also pending
DHS/ICE has a separate agenda item called Practical Training, RIN 1653-AA97. Its official agenda entry says the agency intends to address programme alignment, fraud, national-security concerns, displacement of US workers and SEVP oversight. The planning target for a proposed rule is February 2027.
There is no public proposal text yet. Claims that OPT will definitely be abolished, cut to a particular period or that STEM OPT is ending go beyond the official record.
What should a family do now?
For a Class 11 or 12 student choosing colleges, I would not rebuild the college list around one alarming headline. The D/S rule is on hold, and OPT still exists. But I would add better questions to the research process, especially where internships or co-op are a major reason for choosing the programme.
Ask how the programme records required practical training, how the international office is applying the CPT guidance and how well it supports OPT filings. A current student should check the form edition before filing and seek individual advice before travel, a school transfer or a time-sensitive employment decision.
A student applying now may not seek OPT until 2031 or later. No one can responsibly promise what the rules will look like then. I would choose a sound academic programme and be cautious about any plan that works only if one narrow immigration provision remains unchanged.
What we are watching
- The D/S litigation: any appeal, stay or later district-court order; next scheduled status conference, 2 October 2026.
- CPT implementation: further SEVP instructions, litigation and university-level handling of pending or existing authorizations.
- OPT Fees, RIN 1653-AB01: publication of the proposed rule and its actual fee schedule.
- Practical Training, RIN 1653-AA97: publication of an NPRM, currently targeted for February 2027.
- USCIS forms: any further filing instructions affecting the new I-765 and I-539 editions.
