Fresh immigration rules introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration could make it harder for thousands of international students to remain and work in the United States by restricting access to a popular work-study pathway.
The new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations, finalised last week, are expected to affect students who rely on Day 1 Curricular Practical Training (Day 1 CPT), a programme that allows holders of F-1 student visas to begin working immediately after enrolling in a graduate course related to their profession.
Many international graduates have used the programme to maintain legal work status in the US while waiting for other employment-based visas. However, the new rules would prevent F-1 visa holders from enrolling in another programme at the same or lower academic level or switching courses after beginning their studies.
The restrictions form part of a broader immigration proposal aimed at ending the open-ended stay currently available to international students who continue making academic progress.
Immigration experts say the changes could force employers to seek alternative visa options for foreign workers.
“This is a strategy that employers have been able to push off onto their employees,” said Danielle Goldman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Build Talent Labs.
“For larger, risk-averse institutions, Day 1 CPT has been something that is a responsibility of the foreign national versus them having to do anything.”
Pressure On H-1B Pathway
Day 1 CPT is mostly used by graduate students and represents a small share of international workers in the US.
According to DHS data, about 130,000 foreign students received work authorisation through Curricular Practical Training in 2024, while nearly 195,000 others worked under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, which allows graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields to remain employed for up to three years.
Major employers of CPT participants include Amazon, Google, Tesla and NVIDIA.
A Bloomberg News investigation found that around 24,000 students were enrolled in Day 1 CPT programmes in 2022.
Legal experts say the programme has legitimate uses, including internships, but has increasingly become a fallback option for workers who fail to secure an H-1B visa through the annual lottery.
Demand for H-1B visas continues to exceed supply. More than 750,000 eligible registrations were submitted in 2023 for just 85,000 available visas.
Although registration numbers have fallen following changes to the selection process, a Trump-era framework that prioritises higher-paid workers has continued to reduce the chances for many early-career applicants.
Without another visa option, graduates who exhaust their OPT eligibility are generally required to leave the United States.
Steven Brown, a partner at Reddy Neumann Brown PC, said some universities have developed graduate programmes specifically to help international students preserve their legal status.
“It’s the business model for these schools,” Brown said.
“This is an administration trying to cut down on what they view as loopholes.”
Universities Adjusting To New Rules
Some institutions have already begun preparing for the regulatory changes.
Christopher Reber, president of Harrisburg University, said the school plans to restructure its graduate programmes, offering Day 1 CPT into accelerated seven-week courses beginning next spring.
The university is also seeking to increase domestic graduate enrolment and expand its doctoral programmes.
Although the DHS said it does not intend to eliminate Curricular Practical Training entirely, it argued that tighter restrictions are necessary to prevent abuse of the student visa system.
The agency said limiting repeated or duplicate degree programmes is “necessary to deter abuse of the nonimmigrant student visa process.”
Jonathan Grode, managing partner at Green & Spiegel LLC, believes the administration is not seeking to abolish CPT completely but warned that the broader student visa reforms could discourage international students from studying in the United States.
“If they want to go after something, they’re going to go after it,” he said.
“They’re not going to get cute and try to do it on the margins.”
Grode added that the proposed changes could particularly affect doctoral programmes that depend heavily on international enrolment.
Employers ranging from technology firms and financial institutions to startups may also face higher recruitment costs if Day 1 CPT becomes less accessible.
Goldman noted that businesses will need to become more involved in immigration planning for international employees.
“It underlines the importance of foreign nationals having companies already invested in them post-graduation and already thinking ahead about immigration strategies,” she said.
