How the Trump administration's crackdown on international students could affect the economy

A new proposed $70,000 fee for international students who are seeking to work in the U.S. after graduation is the latest Trump administration policy targeting scholars from abroad.

"We've never, until now, seen this deluge of policies that have been direct attacks on international students to this level," said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an agency that promotes international education.

In his second term, President Donald Trump has increased vetting for student visas, terminated the legal status of thousands of students and attempted to place limits on how long people can hold a student visa.

The administration has additionally increased fees and restrictions for H-1B employment visas that international students often rely on to continue living in the U.S. years after graduation.

"The goal seems to be to shrink the foreign-born population in the U.S.," said Tara Watson, senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institution.

These policies, several of which have been halted by courts, signal a departure from Trump's repeated assurances that he is pro legal immigration, and from his campaign promise to grant international students permanent residency after graduating from U.S. colleges.

READ MORE: Trump said he's pro legal immigration, his policies say otherwise

The restrictive policies have had detrimental effects on international students and universities, experts told PBS News.

A preliminary analysis by NAFSA in August estimated a drop in international student enrollment by 111,000 in 2026, which would result in up to $3.4 billion in lost revenue.

Here's what to know about the Trump administration's policies targeting international students, the effect the potential changes are expected to have and how they compare to other countries.

Why is Trump targeting international students and foreign workers?

The Trump administration has given an array of reasons for its policies targeting international students and workers.

In its proposed rule published on Oct. 8, the Department of Homeland Security said requiring universities to pay $70,000 per international student to participate in Optional Practical Training (OPT), a program that lets foreign students temporarily work in the U.S. after graduation, was necessary to "place the United States' interests first and protect American workers."

The administration gave a similar justification for its proposed rule to impose a filing fee exceeding $100,000 for companies to hire highly skilled workers on H1-B visas and to suspend certain tech companies from using the program altogether.

WATCH: Vance says Microsoft is being suspended from green card program for H-1B visa workers

The administration also cited fraud and abuse in its justification for the rules increasing fees for international students and workers.

DHS did the same in a July rule requiring student visas to be awarded for a fixed four-year period rather than until students complete their programs. A federal judge temporarily blocked the rule before it went into effect.

The administration has also cited national security and the country's best interest in its restrictions, including a State Department mandate to vet applicants' social media accounts.

In January, the State Department announced on X that it had revoked 8,000 student visas "for individuals who had encounters with U.S. law enforcement for criminal activity."

For months, international students reported receiving notices that their visas had been revoked without being given a reason. Many visas have been restored following court challenges.

READ MORE: International students stripped of legal status in the U.S. are piling up wins in court

At the time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department was revoking visas from people who were acting against the U.S. national interest, including by protesting Israel's war in Gaza. However, the Associated Press reported that many of the students affected by the revocations didn't fit that description or had minor infractions.

Why does the U.S. rely on international students and workers?

Historically, the U.S. has been considered a "preeminent destination for the world's best and brightest," Aw said.

Watson described a "pipeline by which we take a really talented, highly educated group of people, and we bring them into our labor force."

The route begins with international students getting their undergraduate or more advanced degrees at universities and then working for one year or longer under the OPT program, depending on their field of study. U.S. companies then sponsor highly skilled workers' H1-B visas and eventually those employees may go on to become permanent residents and U.S. citizens.

Most of the more than 1 million international students in the U.S. pay full tuition at colleges and universities, which in turn helps subsidize American students' education, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education.

He disagreed with the administration's argument that international students take opportunities away from U.S. citizens.

READ MORE: Trump says skilled foreign workers take jobs away from Americans. It's not that simple, experts say

"Higher education in America lives in a world of abundant opportunities," Mitchell said. "There are more spaces in colleges and universities than there are students, there are more opportunities for researchers and professors than there are applicants."

International students and workers make crucial contributions to the U.S. economy, experts told PBS News.

A 2023 study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research found high-skilled immigrants play an outsized role in innovation in the U.S. via the creation of patents.

"It's fair to say that global talent is a taproot of innovation in the United States," said Michael Clemens, economics professor at Johns Hopkins University.

International students who don't stay in the country after graduation can also help the U.S., Mitchell said. Those students may go on to hold positions of power in their home countries.

"They're the best kind of soft power that we have," Mitchell said. "Inculcating American values in people who return to leadership positions in their country."

What will happen if there is a drop in international students and workers?

The effects of Trump's policy decisions will partly depend on how long the policies remain in place and whether the system returns to the way it used to be, experts told PBS News. However, they agreed that deterring skilled international students and workers from coming to the U.S. will negatively affect the economy down the road.

"I worry that as we compress the number of people that are coming in through that pipeline, we're really going to see results in 10 or 20 years that our workforce will no longer be the place for the world's best and brightest to be working," Watson said.

Clemens said the main effects will take years to materialize, but will likely result in "fewer inventions, fewer new businesses and fewer new industries, at a time when we desperately need all of those things to adjust to the AI shock."

International students and workers also support the economy beyond their universities or workplaces. By living in the U.S., foreign students and workers create jobs as they buy goods and services, said Devashish Mitra, economics professor at Syracuse University.

How do Trump's proposals compare to other countries' approaches?

The administration's restrictive policies for international students and workers will lead people to choose countries other than the U.S. to pursue their studies, research and careers, according to the experts who spoke with PBS News.

"Students will not stop seeking places to study. Student mobility will continue," Aw said. "What is shifting is the direction and where they decide to study."

Mitchell said other countries that compete with the U.S. for talent and innovation see restrictive policies "as an opportunity to gain ground."

WATCH: Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending'

China launched a new visa in 2025 intended to recruit young professionals in STEM fields.

Canada has hired researchers from U.S. universities amid the Trump administration's crackdown.

And the European Union created its "Choose Europe for Science" initiative in part to lure researchers from American universities.

"It is not inconceivable that new hubs of innovation could develop in other parts of the world," Watson said. "Because we're not leveraging this historic advantage that we've had."

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