OPT

When applying for OPT, YOU get to decide your start date. This is the day when you can begin working, provided that you have received your OPT approval and Employment Authorization Document (EAD card) by that date. Please note that: 

• OPT can be applied for as early as 90 days before the graduation date.
• OPT applications should be received by USCIS no later than 60 days after the graduation date. The earliest OPT start date that you can select is the day after your graduation date, while the latest OPT start date is 60 days after your graduation date. Since USCIS is expecting longer processing times, it is advisable to select the latest start date, unless you already have a job offer.
• Use the Date Calculator to select your preferred start date.
• Indicate your chosen date at the bottom of your OPT Final Meeting Eligibility Form, to be submitted to the ISSS Office, You can find more information about the form in Step 2(b).

Please note that the all of following application materials must be submitted to the ISSS Office in order to receive an OPT Recommended Form I-20.

1. Academic Advisor Recommendation Letter for OPT: Work with your academic advisor to complete and sign this letter. The Academic Advisor Recommendation Letter must be attached to your OPT Final Meeting Eligibility Form.
2. OPT Final Meeting Eligibility Form:Carefully review and sign this form wherever required, as it outlines your responsibilities as an OPT applicant, and provides OPT Health Insurance Information. 
3. OPT Photos: Get a professional photo and follow the instructions below for submission.

On-Campus Photo Options: On campus, both The Compass (MCC 145) and Culkin Hall (ID & Dining Services) have resources that provide appropriate photos. Feel free to print these instructions to provide to on-campus photo resources. The Compass provides walk-in hours of Monday-Friday 8am-4:30pm to recieve a free professional photo. The ID & Dining Services Department in Culkin Hall would need to be contacted ahead of time, and provides photos for $5 USD. If your photo needs to be resized feel free to utilize this resource to ensure that your photo is a square 2x2 photo.

Off-Campus Photo Options:To ensure that you have professional OPT photos ready for your online application, Print these instructions and take them to Kinney Drugs, Walmart, or another photo location. 

*Ask the photographer if they can send you the photo image via email. If not, scan the photos to upload them to the online application. In case the online application shows an error, try taking photos with your phone. The system will notify you if they can accept the photo or not.

Once the review is complete and everything looks good, students will be invited to the OPT review meeting, which occurs on Thursdays at 3:30 PM. After students complete their OPT application, ISSS staff will review the materials. At this meeting, students will receive a new Form I-20 with their OPT request.

Upon receiving the new OPT recommended Form I-20, students should print it out and sign it with a pen. Then, you need to scan the signed and OPT-authorized Form I-20 and upload it to your online I-765 application. The online application process should be continued from page 20 of the attached instructions which you can find in step 4 below.

Start the online OPT application using this guide which outlines the steps included in the I-765 Form. However, DO NOT submit it until you receive the OPT I-20s from the ISSS Office (refer to page 20 of the attached instruction below).

To reiterate, OPT applicants will be issued the OPT recommended Form I-20 after the final OPT meeting. Submitting the OPT application without the new OPT Form I-20 will result in DENIAL. So, you can start completing the online application before the final review meeting, but make sure to stop before proceeding to page 20 of the instructions.

Feel free to utilize this guide which outlines the steps included in the I-765 Form. Click here to view this step-by-step guide on how to complete the online OPT application.  

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind for successful OPT filing:

• On-campus address: If you would like to provide an on-campus address, please write the ISSS office address, not your dorm address. We observed some of the mail of graduated students are returned to USCIS and USCIS would not re-send the returned mail. Therefore, you can choose an off-campus address if you know where you are going to stay after graduation. Otherwise, provide the ISSS Office address which you can find in the instructions to prevent delays in EAD card delivery.
• *NOTE: Students are subject to pay for the shipping to their addresses upon the EAD card delivery.
• *IMPORTANT: The arrival date to the campus is not the same as the arrival date to the ISSS office. From the date that it arrives in the campus mailroom, it will take 1~2 weeks to be delivered to each office.  
• *For students who already wrote their on-campus addresses only* If you move outside the campus after graduation, update your mailing address with both USCIS through its How to Change Your Address page and the U.S. Postal Service through its Official USPS Change-of-Address page.
• CPT I-20: The application system will show you a warning message when you try to leave the CPT information blank. If you did not apply for CPT, you can move to the next step and not providing the CPT detail should not cause delays.

After you submit your form, you can track its status through your USCIS account. Sign in to your account often to check your case status and read any important messages from USCIS. Applicants can also download the "Case Tracker for USCIS" app to track the case status:

• Android users: Case Tracker for USCIS (Currently, the app can be downloaded on iOS devices only)
• iPhone users: Case Tracker for USCIS

myProgress provides applicants with access, in their online account, to personalized estimates of their wait time for major milestones on their case, including their final case decision. While estimates are based on historical patterns of cases with similar specifics, they are not a guarantee of speed, cannot take into consideration all possible unique application processing delays, and may over- or underestimate the true processing time.

To view estimated case timelines, applicants must first create a USCIS online account or log into their account and select their pending application. If they e-filed or linked one of the applicable forms to their online account using an online access code, they will see a myProgress tab for their application. The myProgress tab displays the estimated wait time until their case has a decision, along with a checkmark beside three milestones as they are completed:

• Confirmation that the application was received;
• Biometric services appointment (if required) has been completed; and
• The decision on the pending case.

Applicants will still need to visit the public Check Case Processing Times webpage to determine if they are eligible to file an Outside of Normal Processing Times service request.

OPT-approved students will receive the SEVP portal activation email around their OPT start date.

Please note that the email will be sent out to the email address that you provided in the OPT application. REMEMBER that the Help Desk will send you important communication regarding your OPT so it is critical for you to activate your portal account and have access to the portal.

If you have any issues with accessing the portal, please reach out to the SEVP Help Desk at 1-800-892-4829.

OPT participants are required to report employment information includes employer name, start date, whether the employment is full-time or part-time, and employer address on SEVP portal. When changing employers, students should edit the end date for the existing employer and add new employer to record. Do NOT type the new employer information over the previous employer directly. 

Also, students will be asked to fill a text field, titled "Relation to Field of Study: Explain how this job relates to the degree that qualified you/or this OPT."

Click the Frequently Asked Questions thread if you are not sure how to discern the direct relationship between the job and the degree. 

If your OPT request has been approved but haven't received the activation email 1 week before the OPT start date, please reach out to us at isss@oswego.edu.

As you read in the OPT Acknowledgment Form, it is the OPT participants' responsibility to update the employer information to stop the unemployment clock. To learn how to update the portal, click here.

That being said, if you already passed the work start date but forgot to update the portal, please provide the following information via email and we can update the employment information for you:

• Explain how employment is related to student's course of study
• Employer Name
• Job title
• Employment start date
• Employment end date
• Full time/ Part time
• Employer address

Please plan ahead as it may take 3-5 business days to receive a reply.

If you have any issues with accessing the portal, please reach out to the SEVP Help Desk at 1-800-892-4829.

No! Unlike CPT, OPT applicants do not have to have a job lined up to apply for OPT. Once the OPT application is approved, students will be given 90 days from the USCIS-approved OPT start date to secure a position.

No! Once the OPT application is approved, students will be given 90 days from the USCIS-approved OPT start date to secure a position. OPT students who got the job offer must update the SEVP portal by referring to the section 2 of this webpage. 

If you are not sure about the relationship between the job that you are interested in/offered and your degree, we suggest consulting with your academic advisor. Since your academic advisor has a deeper understanding of your curriculum, your advisor will be the best person to advise.

USCIS premium processing guarantees 30 calendar days of turnaround time for eligible beneficiaries by charging $1,685 as of February 26th, 2024. In other words, within a month (30 calendar days) OPT/STEM OPT applicants will be able to confirm if USCIS:

• issues an approval notice
• issues a denial notice
• issues a notice of intent to deny
• issues a request for evidence
• opens an investigation for fraud or misrepresentation

Students who are willing to apply for Premium Processing can file Form I-907 online. Students would need an I-765 Receipt number and a MyUSCIS account number which can be found by logging into MyUSCIS to submit the online form I-907. Premium Processing applicants do NOT need any further documentation from the ISSS office.

No! OPT-approved international students are allowed to work in the States throughout the authorized OPT employment period. Therefore, employers do not necessarily need to sponsor you throughout the OPT period. That being said, STEM OPT-eligible students may want to find employment that meets STEM OPT requirements. To learn more about STEM OPT eligibility, please click here: https://www.oswego.edu/international/stem-opt

Also, students may want to find an employer who's willing to sponsor them after the OPT period if that is something they are interested in. 

The Cap Gap Extension addresses the period between the expiration of a student's Optional Practical Training (OPT) and the start of H-1B status. 

To be eligible for a cap gap extension:

• Employer must file an H-1B petition with USCIS to change the student’s status to H-1B.
• The H-1B petition must request an October 1 start date.
• Student’s Program End Date or Post-Completion/Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) OPT End Date is after the petition filing date and between April 1 and September 30.
• Student’s Program End Date is today or in the past.

While the university does not provide specific guidance on the Cap Gap Extension, students navigating this transition are urged to seek independent legal advice to ensure compliance with immigration regulations and a smooth transition to H-1B status.