Upon inquiries from beneficiaries and attorneys, CIS recently released some explanations about OPT regulations. We here clarify these explanations.

To be eligible for OPT (Optional Practical Training), the applicant must be in valid F-1 status and has been in school for one full academic year prior to filing.

But for the academic program, it must be one full academic year from the particular program starting date, i.e. two semesters, three trimesters, or four quarters. And it doesn’t matter if the one academic year was not spent in one school or one major.

It also doesn’t matter if the applicant was not in F-1 status throughout the academic program. He can apply to change status to F-1. Then an explanation letter of the Change of Status (COS) is enough while filing I-765 for OPT. As long as the applicant is otherwise eligible to change status, the application will be approved. However, if the application to change status is submitted too close to the end of the program there is a risk that the program will complete before the COS is approved. In that case the COS would be denied.

But authorization to engage in OPT employment is automatically terminated when the student transfers to another school or begins study at another educational level. A student may only be authorized 12 months of practical training for one educational level. But a student may be authorized addition 12 months of OPT if he/she changes to a higher educational level. For example, a student who some time ago was F-1 for a master’s degree, had the OPT, changed to H1, and then again to F-1 for a Ph.D grogram-without leaving the US. This student is eligible for another 12 months OPT. But if the same student is enrolled into a new master’s program, he/she is not eligible for another OPT.