When To Apply For OPT
- Its Ok Yaar
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
A relative of ours got their OPT denied because they made a mistake in choosing their start OPT date. Another friend’s sister got her OPT denied because they filed their OPT 30-days after they received OPT I-20.
If you are a student in the US or if you’re someone who is planning to study in the US, then you’ve obviously heard about OPT. But with all things US immigration, there are a lot of rules, regulations, complexities that make it extremely challenging for students to navigate.
But It’s Ok Yaar. Hum Hain Na.
In today’s blog post, we are going to explain:
What is OPT?
How To Apply for OPT?
Various timelines related to your OPT
How To Select The Start Date For Your OPT
The 90 days unemployment period
Common Reasons for OPT Rejection By USCIS
What To Do If Your OPT is rejected
So, What is OPT?
In simple terms, OPT or Optional Practical Training is nothing but a work permit that allows international students to live and work in the US for 12 months after their graduation and for an additional 24 months if they’re STEM graduates.
How To Apply For OPT?
To Apply for Your OPT first you need to secure a recommendation from your schools Designated School Official or DSO. They need to endorse your I-20 and make a note in the Student and Exchange Visitor System or SEVIS.
In most cases, closer to your graduation, your DSO will only reach out to you and ask if you’ll be applying for OPT.
Post that, you need to apply for your OPT or work permit by filing for I-765 with the USCIS. Be sure to pay the necessary fee and provide the required supporting documentation as outlined in the forms.
On approval, you will receive an EAD (Employment Authorization Document). Please note that you cannot start working before you have your EAD card.
Now let’s discuss the most important part of this blog post.
All The Timelines related to OPT
The first timeline that we will discuss is:
When To Apply For Your OPT:
According to the USCIS, you can apply for your OPT:
90 days before your Graduation date or
60 days after your graduation date
So, for example. Suppose you’re graduating on May 13.
You can apply for your OPT 90 days before that, so anytime after Feb 13 or
60 days after your graduation i.e. July 13. Got it? But there’s a catch here.
Remember that one of the steps to apply for your OPT is to get an I-20 from your school’s DSO? So, you need to apply for your OPT within 30 days of receiving your I-20.
Therefore, it is extremely important (and we can’t stress this fact enough) to decide when you want to get your I-20 from the DSO and always apply for your OPT within 30 days of receiving it. If you don’t do that, your OPT will be rejected.
Now that we’ve discussed this, let’s discuss how to select your Start date for the OPT
As per the USCIS, your OPT start date needs to be within 60 days of your graduation.
So, for example, if you’re graduating on May 13, you can select your OPT start date any time between May 14 and July 13.
Since you only get a year of OPT, the natural inclination of most people is to choose a later start date to fully utilize their OPT. But it is also important to understand that in the meantime if you get a job, the employer may not want to wait for a long time for you to join.
In my opinion, a good start date would be anytime between 30-45 days after your graduation. Most employers are willing to wait at least a month or month and half after your graduation for you to join. Some may wait for the 60 days period but why take a chance especially in this job market.
Now, let’s discuss the unemployment period during your OPT
As per the USCIS, during your 1 year of OPT, you can only accrue 90 days of unemployment.
So, for example, if your OPT starts from June 28 and is valid until June 27 next year you can only remain unemployed for a total of 90 days during this 12 month period.
Let’s take another example. Suppose, your OPT start date is June 28, 2024 and you manage to get a job and join it by July 28, 2024. So far you’ve accrued 30 days of unemployment. Things go well for the rest of the year but your company decides to do some cost-cutting and on January 28, 2025 you’re unfortunately laid off. Since you’d already accrued 30 days of unemployment earlier, you now only have another 60 days of unemployment left to find a new job.
If you are on STEM OPT, then you get an additional 60 days during your STEM Extension, bringing the total to 150 days.
There are ways to stop this clock but that would require an entire blog post by itself.
Common Reasons for OPT Rejection By USCIS
You applied for OPT 30 days after receiving your OPT I-20: The USCIS calls it the 30-day rule. Many people aren’t aware of this rule and end up filing it late and get their OPTs rejected.
CPT was used Full-Time for 12 months: if you use full-time CPT for 12 months, you will no longer be eligible to apply for OPT after graduation
The I-765 application form and supporting materials do not meet the requirements: The most common I-765 errors include:
Not using the latest version of the I-765 form
Omissions
No signature
Correct content in the wrong box,
Wrong OPT code,
Incorrect writing format of the check,
Cheque or money order that is not able to be cashed,
Insufficient supporting materials,
The submitted photos do not meet the specifications
The passport is valid for less than six months.
DSO got your I-20 wrong: As mentioned earlier, the internal application of the school is the first step in the process. In this step, the school's DSO will give you an OPT recommendation I-20 and the updated I-20 status in the system. Since most students apply to OPT at the end of their program, there might be a situation where many students submit their OPT applications simultaneously. At this time, the DSO may have human errors due to the heavy workload. If you find a problem with your I-20, reach out to your school’s DSO on time.
Under normal circumstances, you will first find out that your OPT application has been rejected on the online system. Then, USCIS will send a paper refusal letter to your registered address within two weeks.
Therefore, it is extremely important to follow all the procedures of applying your OPT in a timely manner.
We hope this blog post was helpful and it gave you a lot of clarity related to your OPT application. And if things aren’t going your way It’s Ok Yaar, they soon will.
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