New OPT fee proposed: $70,000 for first-time F-1 students, $30,000 for extension; DHS says this was never meant to be a backdoor

SignalsMonitor is following this as a general story. Times of India World is the outlet attached so far. The first report grouped here was at 7 Oct 2026, 14:37 UTC. The headline in use is “New OPT fee proposed: $70,000 for first-time F-1 students, $30,000 for extension; DHS says this was never meant to be a backdoor”. This note is SignalsMonitor's own briefing, not the publisher's article.