The week's biggest story is a price tag: on 8 October the Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule that would charge $70,000 the first time a school recommends an F-1 student for Optional Practical Training, and $30,000 for every OPT recommendation after that, including the STEM extension (Federal Register, 8 October 2026). The same day, the Labor Department suspended eight employers, Microsoft and Adobe among them, from the PERM green-card process. And the summer-2027 quant market lost two undergraduate postings, at Optiver and SIG.
None of the visa items is in force today. All of them change how a 2027 graduate on F-1 should plan the next six months.
Applications that opened or closed
| Company | Role | Region | Status / date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optiver | Quantitative Intern (Summer 2027), undergrad | US | Posting taken down by 9 Oct | Extern |
| SIG | Undergrad quant trading internship | US | No longer posted by 9 Oct | Extern |
| HRT | Women in Trading & Technology (Jan 2027) | US | Closes 16 Oct | Extern |
| Jane Street, HRT, IMC, Citadel Securities, Two Sigma, DE Shaw, DRW, Five Rings | Summer 2027 quant interns | US | Still posted 9 Oct | Extern |
| Cursor | Software Engineer, New Grad 2027 | San Francisco, New York, Palo Alto | Live as of 12 Oct | Cursor careers |
The quant closures are the time-sensitive part. An Extern recheck of employer career pages on 9 October found that Optiver's undergraduate Quantitative Intern (Summer 2027) posting "has been taken down", while its software, FPGA and PhD research internships stayed up. SIG's US undergraduate quant trading internship was also gone, though its master's and PhD research roles and undergraduate Quant Strategy Developer posting remained (Extern, checked 9 October 2026). Our New Grad 2027 tracker still lists Optiver US and SIG as open at firm level. The firm-level status is still accurate, but the undergraduate trading seat at each firm is not.
Optiver also runs an eight-month cooldown: if you sat an assessment or interview in the last eight months, you cannot reapply until it expires (Extern, checked 9 October 2026). If you were hoping for a second shot this cycle, plan on next year's cycle instead.
The one hard date this week is HRT's Women in Trading & Technology programme, which closes to applications on 16 October 2026. Our 2027 quant internship timeline flagged it as one of only two firm deadlines in the cycle, and it is now four days out.
On the software side, Cursor's Software Engineer, New Grad 2027 posting is live for San Francisco, New York and Palo Alto. It asks for a spring 2027 graduation and, unusually, makes a reviewable shipped project a requirement: an app, an open-source project or a shipped product, with a link. The loop is two to three short technical interviews, then an onsite where you build a small project with the team (Cursor careers, retrieved 12 October 2026). The posting lists no pay range and does not say whether it sponsors visas. It only asks about US work authorisation.
Interview and process changes
No firm announced a new interview format this week. The process change that matters comes from Cursor's posting above: treat a public, working project as the entry ticket rather than a resume line. If your strongest work is coursework, put a deployed version of it on GitHub before you apply. A free ATS resume check will tell you whether the project is reading as a project or getting buried under coursework.
For quant, the change is the calendar. The Extern list shows most postings still up, but it warns that firms review on a rolling basis, "so a live posting isn't a guarantee of an open seat" (Extern, checked 9 October 2026). If HRT's research track is on your list, the HRT quantitative researcher mock runs the probability-and-coding first round.
Comp, layoffs, and expansions
Netflix is the name to watch. Puck News reported on 9 October that the company plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, with an announcement possible as early as this week; Netflix declined to comment, and it had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of last year (Reuters via The Star, 9 October 2026). Reported is not announced, so do not withdraw an application on the strength of it. But if you are mid-loop there, ask the recruiter whether your team's req is affected.
No other confirmed large tech cut landed this week with a primary source we could verify. Last week's Challenger count, 10,799 tech cuts in September and 165,925 for the year, is the most recent hard number (see last week's roundup).
Visa and policy
The OPT fee: what the rule actually says
The notice of proposed rulemaking (DHS Docket ICEB-2026-0100, issued by ICE) proposes "$70,000 for initial OPT; and $30,000 for any subsequent OPT" for each F-1 student, paid by the SEVP-certified school (Federal Register, 8 October 2026). The details that matter for a student:
| Question | Answer in the proposal | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | The school, before the DSO can enter the recommendation in SEVIS; USCIS cannot approve OPT without it | WR Immigration |
| Can it be passed on | DHS acknowledges schools may recover it from students, employers or other funding | WR Immigration |
| Pre-completion OPT | Counts as initial OPT: $70,000 | WR Immigration |
| STEM OPT extension | Subsequent OPT: $30,000 | WR Immigration |
| Changing employers | Does not trigger a new fee | WR Immigration |
| Refunds | Discretionary before the EAD is issued; none after | WR Immigration |
| Comment deadline | 9 November 2026 (information-collection comments: 7 December) | Federal Register |
| Start date | 60 days after a final rule is published | BU ISSO |
| Current fee | $470 online I-765 | BU ISSO |
Two corrections to coverage you may have seen. First, some outlets reported a 7 November comment deadline. The Federal Register notice itself says comments "must be received on or before November 9, 2026". Second, DHS floated an alternative in the notice, charging $70,000 again at each degree level, so a bachelor's and then a master's would each trigger a new fee. That is a request for comment, not the main proposal (WR Immigration, retrieved 12 October 2026).
DHS's case is fraud and scale. The notice says 194,554 F-1 students were granted OPT work permits and reported working in 2024, up from 160,627 in 2023, with a further 165,524 on STEM OPT in 2024 (Federal Register, 8 October 2026). DHS's own primary estimate is $12.8 billion a year in transfers from the fee. Higher Ed Dive reported that DHS warned it "may shut down the program entirely" if it cannot implement the fee, and that NAFSA's Fanta Aw said the structure "creates deep uncertainty for international students" (Higher Ed Dive, 7 October 2026). On Marketplace, AIRC's Clay Harmon said few institutions could "remotely entertain" covering the cost (Marketplace, 9 October 2026).
Students reacted fast. World Journal interviewed Chinese students in New York on 8 October. One student already working on CPT, planning to file for OPT next spring, said he had stopped worrying and expected a lawsuit, as with the H-1B fee. Another, graduating in May and still job-hunting for software roles, worried that employers would see OPT hires as less stable even if the school paid, and screen international applicants out first in a crowded field. A New York immigration lawyer told the paper the proposal was already producing a chilling effect before taking force (World Journal, 8 October 2026).
PERM: eight employers suspended
On 8 October, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and Vice President JD Vance announced that the Labor Department will not accept new PERM labor certifications from Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini (Boundless, 8 October 2026). Sonderling cited "multiple active federal investigations" at Microsoft and Adobe and said the eight together had obtained more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications since 2009. No end date or reinstatement path was published, and H-1B status was not part of the action.
For a new grad this is a green-card-timeline question, not a job-offer question. An offer from Microsoft or Adobe still carries H-1B sponsorship as before. What is now uncertain is the PERM step that usually follows a few years later.
Still pending
| Item | Status on 12 Oct 2026 | Next date |
|---|---|---|
| OPT fee ($70,000 / $30,000) | Proposed 8 Oct; not in effect | Comments close 9 Nov |
| PERM suspension, 8 employers | In effect from 8 Oct; no end date | DOL written guidance |
| H-1B layoffs executive order | Signed 18 Sep | DOL LCA review begins ~18 Oct |
| $100,000 H-1B proclamation fee | Blocked by N.D. Cal. on 1 Oct | Case management conference 27 Oct |
| UK Graduate visa cut to 18 months | Announced Oct 2025 | Applications from 1 Jan 2027 |
The 18 October date comes from the H-1B executive order signed on 18 September, which gives the Labor Department 30 days to start reviewing Labor Condition Application data for employers with recent layoffs (Boundless, retrieved 5 October 2026). The $100,000 H-1B fee row is unchanged since the 1 October injunction (JURIST, 1 October 2026), and the UK row is the 18-month Graduate visa covered in our London sponsorship guide below.
What to do this week
1. File an OPT comment by 9 November if it affects you. Comments go to Regulations.gov under docket ICEB-2026-0100. A short, specific comment (your degree, your offer, what the fee would change) carries more weight than a form letter.
2. Ask your international office two questions. Would the school pay the fee or pass it on, and could your summer-2027 internship run on CPT rather than pre-completion OPT? Pre-completion OPT counts as your "initial" OPT under the proposal.
3. Apply to HRT's January programme before 16 October if you are eligible, and stop waiting on Optiver's and SIG's undergraduate trading postings. Redirect that time to firms still posted on the New Grad 2027 tracker.
4. Keep a non-US route warm. The UK quant visa sponsorship guide lists which London firms hold sponsor licences, as of the 8 October register.
5. Do nothing rash. No new visa rule is in force today. Do not drop out of a loop, change status, or file a precautionary application because of a proposal.
Sources
- Federal Register, "Optional Practical Training Fees" (DHS Docket ICEB-2026-0100), 8 October 2026
- GovInfo, Federal Register Vol. 91 No. 194 PDF, "Optional Practical Training Fees", 8 October 2026
- WR Immigration, "Fifteen Things to Know About DHS's Proposed OPT Fees", retrieved 12 October 2026
- Boston University ISSO, "USDHS Proposes New OPT Fees", 8 October 2026
- Higher Ed Dive, "DHS proposes $70K fee for initial OPT participation and $30K for extensions", 7 October 2026
- Marketplace, "International students, workers could be hurt by proposed $70,000 OPT fee", 9 October 2026
- World Journal, Chinese students and lawyers on the OPT fee proposal, 8 October 2026
- Boundless, "DOL Suspends 8 Employers From PERM: What It Means", 8 October 2026
- Boundless, "New H-1B Order Targets Employers With Recent Layoffs", retrieved 5 October 2026
- JURIST, "Second federal judge blocks President Trump's $100K H-1B visa fee", 1 October 2026
- Extern, "Quant Internships Summer 2027: Firms, Pay & Deadlines", checked 9 October 2026
- Cursor careers, "Software Engineer, New Grad 2027", retrieved 12 October 2026
- The Star (Reuters), "Netflix plans to cut 5% of its workforce, Puck News reports", 9 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to pay the $70,000 OPT fee now?
- No. It is a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on 8 October 2026, not a final one. Comments are due by 9 November 2026, and DHS says a final rule would take effect 60 days after it is published (Federal Register, 8 October 2026; BU ISSO, 8 October 2026). Until then the normal I-765 filing fee applies and schools keep recommending OPT as usual.
- Who would pay the OPT fee: the student, the school or the employer?
- The proposal puts the payment on the SEVP-certified school: $70,000 the first time it recommends a student for any type of OPT and $30,000 for each later recommendation, including the STEM extension (Federal Register, 8 October 2026). DHS also says schools may recover the cost from students, employers or other funding, so the bill could still reach you (WR Immigration, retrieved 12 October 2026).
- Does the OPT fee apply to pre-completion OPT and STEM OPT?
- Yes. The $70,000 initial fee applies to the first OPT recommendation of any type, pre-completion or post-completion, and a STEM OPT extension would count as a subsequent recommendation at $30,000 (WR Immigration, retrieved 12 October 2026). Changing employers on its own would not trigger a new fee, because the fee attaches to the school's recommendation, not to the job.
- Does the PERM suspension affect H-1B workers at Microsoft or Adobe?
- Not directly. On 8 October the Labor Department said it would stop accepting PERM labor certifications, the first step of most employer green cards, from Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini (Boundless, 8 October 2026). H-1B status was not part of the announcement, but no end date has been published, which matters if you planned a long-term green card path at one of those employers.
- Are quant internships for summer 2027 still open?
- Mostly, but they are thinning. A check of employer career pages on 9 October 2026 found Jane Street, HRT, IMC, Citadel Securities, Two Sigma, DE Shaw, DRW and Five Rings still posted, while Optiver's undergraduate Quantitative Intern posting had been taken down and SIG's US undergraduate quant trading internship was no longer listed (Extern, checked 9 October 2026). HRT's January 2027 Women in Trading & Technology programme closes on 16 October 2026.