Optional Practical Training

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Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a period during which undergraduate and graduate students in F-1 status who have completed or have been pursuing their degrees for more than 9 months are permitted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to work for at most one year on a student visa without needing to acquire a work H-1B visa towards getting a practical training to complement their field of studies. F-1 students are permitted total of 12 months towards practical training, on being certified by the advisor of the usefulness of the work towards goals of the degree, which can be distributed between Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and OPT. M-1 students are also permitted to engage in post-completion OPT. They are entitled to one month of training for every four months of study, with a maximum length of six months.

The OPT permit card (employment authorization document) can be obtained from USCIS before completion of a degree program through the university's International Student Office or equivalent upon filing of the relevant form (I-765), payment of fee ($340), and sending copies of I-20, passport, visa and other required documentation. The process can take up to 4 months to complete. M-1 students must also file the form I-539 to extend their status. This carries a $300 fee and requires additional processing time.

No Social Security or Medicare taxes, except federal and state income taxes, are applicable on income earned during OPT.[1]

Latest developments:

May 31th, 2008: The Immigration Reform Law Institute filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on behalf of various organizations and individuals challenging the validity of the 17 month OPT extension.

April 4th, 2008: SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) NOTE:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released today an interim final rule extending the period of Optional Practical Training (OPT) from 12 to 29 months for qualified F-1 non-immigrant students. The extension will be available to students who are employed by businesses enrolled in the E-Verify program. E-Verify is a free internet-based system operated by USCIS, in partnership with the Social Security Administration, which determines a new employee's eligibility to work.

General Provisions:

F-1 students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields and granted initial post-completion OPT are now eligible to apply for a one-time extension for 17 additional months, a maximum of 29 months.
STEM students need to file form I-765. The form is being amended to capture information needed to determine student eligibility.
F-1 students who file for a STEM extension prior to the end date of their post completion OPTs may continue employment while the application is pending, or for 180 days, whichever is shorter.
Approved extensions allow for students to remain working for the STEM employer on the new EAD. If denied, the student must make preparations to depart or transfer to another school to continue studying.

To be eligible for the 17-month OPT extension, a student must have received a STEM degree in one of the following:

Actuarial Science.
Computer Science Applications.
Engineering.
Engineering Technologies.
Life Sciences.
Mathematics.
Military Technologies.
Physical Sciences.

Cap Gap:

"Cap-gap" occurs when an academic foreign student's (F-1) status and work authorization expire during the current fiscal year before the student can start approved H-1B employment during the next fiscal year beginning on October 1.
This new interim final rule provides a permanent solution to the H-1B "cap-gap". Previous cap-gap provisions extended only the stay but not the employment authorization.
F-1 classified nonimmigrant students whose employer has filed an H-1B petition on their behalf and whose petition is selected, may now receive an extended/authorized stay for employment.

This has been applauded by many students, tech groups, and many foreign-based companies, but however, a big population has been left out. There are many non-science majors that feel like they are left-out by this interim law.

One problematic aspect of the rule for many students is that the new 90 day cap on total unemployment days (for none science majors). The past practice of many students have been to use the OPT year to remain in the US while searching for jobs, this new rule if effected will severely hamper these job search efforts, which previously could last the whole year.

Another problematic aspect of the 17 month OPT extension is the fact that as of April 2008, only 1% of all U.S. employers are using E-verify. E-verify is free and provides a convenient way of checking for employee's work eligibility, reducing the risks to the company. However, the company, once enrolled, is obliged to use it for all new hires, citizen or non-citizen. This presents a slight modification to the current procedures and requires a small amount of new HR training. Also, some human resource activists have claimed that the E-verify database contains errors. U.S. Government has been working on improving the robustness of the database; it is currently used for all new hires by 60,000 businesses nationwide. Big employers with many OPTs are likely to join E-verify. Some smaller employers might be more hesitant. Therefore, even if a student's degree is in STEM, he or she might not qualify for the OPT extension because the employer will not be willing to join E-verify. In some cases, an OPT student might be up for an uphill battle with the employer who wants to retain the OPT student, but at the same time does not want to join E-verify.

[edit] External links

Optional Practical Training Tracker: An OPT tracker that lets F-1 visa students share and discuss the details of their OPT applications, reducing guesswork and making it easier to estimate processing times.
Optional Practical Training Tracker: Immihelp's OPT tracker that lets F-1 visa students share and discuss the details of their OPT applications, reducing guesswork and making it easier to estimate processing times.
8 CFR: Title 8 Code of Federal Regulations.
I-765: Form I-765