Congress moves to ban foreign students from working after graduation

What it does

This bill eliminates the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which currently allows foreign students on F-1 visas to work in the U.S. after graduation. The bill bars any employment authorization for these students under OPT or any successor program unless Congress passes a new law to reinstate it. Foreign students would lose the ability to gain U.S. work experience after completing their studies.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a direct prohibition on a specific work-authorization pathway for foreign students. It frames the restriction as 'fairness' to domestic workers but functions as a labor-market protectionist measure that eliminates a long-standing program without replacement.

What the text implies

• Elimination of OPT may reduce U.S. university enrollment from international students, harming higher-education institutions' revenue and research capacity, particularly at STEM-focused universities.
• Foreign competitors (Canada, UK, Australia) offer post-study work visas; this bill may push trained foreign graduates to those countries, reducing U.S. talent retention and global competitiveness.
• Tech, biotech, and engineering sectors rely heavily on OPT workers; elimination may increase labor costs and slow product development, potentially raising consumer prices in innovation-dependent industries.
• The bill requires an 'express Act of Congress' to reinstate any successor program, creating a high procedural bar that may entrench the prohibition even if labor-market conditions change.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

U.S. workers may face reduced competition for entry-level positions in high-skill fields, a potential benefit to domestic job-seekers; however, U.S. employers lose access to trained foreign talent, which may raise labor costs, reduce competitiveness, and harm innovation-dependent sectors. The net effect on ordinary citizens depends on whether job-market gains outweigh economic efficiency losses and higher consumer costs.

Who stands to gain

• domestic workers in high-skill fields (reduced competition for entry-level positions)
• labor unions representing skilled trades (potential wage protection)

Named in the bill

F-1 visa holders, Optional Practical Training Program (OPT), Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 274A(h), U.S. employers in tech, biotech, engineering sectors, U.S. universities and research institutions

Where it stands

40 cosponsors: 40 Republicans.

• Mar 25, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Mar 25, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $360,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 34 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Paul Gosar, the sponsor, reported $87,570 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Cornell University — $360,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.