OPT, STEM OPT and the H-1B lottery: a month-by-month plan for your first job search

Your first job search as an international student runs on two calendars: the recruiting calendar, set by employers, and the immigration calendar, set by regulation and indifferent to whether you have an offer. Most avoidable disasters come from putting off the second. This guide lays the two side by side for a student finishing a degree in May 2027; shift the dates for a December graduation.

Three rule changes from 2026 are folded in: the H-1B lottery is now weighted by wage level; premium processing costs more; and a rule that would have ended "duration of status" for F-1 students was finalized in July and then blocked by a federal court in September, so the old framework still applies as of this writing. Expect that last one to move; check with your DSO before you rely on anything here.

The fixed points

Before the calendar, the rules that create it. All of these come from the regulations SEVP summarizes on Study in the States.

• Post-completion OPT is up to 12 months of work authorization related to your major. You may apply up to 90 days before your program end date and no later than 60 days after it, and USCIS must receive your Form I-765 within 30 days of your DSO entering the recommendation in SEVIS.
• You pick a start date within the 60 days after your program end date. Your EAD will not be valid before it, and you cannot work until the card's start date and you physically have it.
• Unemployment: you may accrue at most 90 days of unemployment during post-completion OPT. Days before your EAD start date don't count; days after it do, whether or not the card has arrived.
• STEM OPT adds 24 months if your degree is on the STEM Designated Degree Program List, your employer is enrolled in E-Verify, and the two of you complete a Form I-983 training plan. You file up to 90 days before your OPT EAD expires. If USCIS hasn't decided by your expiry date, you may keep working for up to 180 days while it is pending. The unemployment allowance rises to 150 days total across both periods — not a fresh 150.
• The H-1B lottery happens once a year. Employers register you in March; USCIS selects by the end of March; selected petitions are filed April through June; approved status begins October 1. Since FY 2027, selection is weighted by the offered wage level, from one entry at Level I to four at Level IV (rule effective February 27, 2026).
• Cap-gap: if a timely H-1B petition requesting change of status is filed for you while you are on OPT, your OPT and F-1 status extend automatically until the approved H-1B start date (normally October 1) or April 1 of that fiscal year, whichever is earlier. It ends early if the petition is denied, rejected, revoked or withdrawn. If the petition is filed during your 60-day grace period, your status is extended but you may not work.

Fall of your final year: September to December 2026

Recruiting. This is when most new-grad hiring happens at larger employers. Apply broadly in September and October; many pipelines close by Thanksgiving. Use the sponsorship signals in postings as a filter, not a verdict — our guide on how to tell whether a company really sponsors walks through the public data. On the board, roles that state they sponsor are a reasonable first pass.

Immigration. Go to your international office's OPT workshop now, not in March. Confirm your program end date in SEVIS; everything hangs off it, and it is sometimes not the date you assume. If your degree's CIP code is borderline for STEM, find out now — a change of major or a declared concentration can matter, and it is far easier to fix while you are enrolled.

Money. Budget for the filings ahead: the I-765 fee is $470 online or $520 on paper per the USCIS fee schedule, premium processing is $1,780 since March 1, 2026, and the STEM extension is another I-765 fee two years out.

January and February 2027: file OPT

Your window opens 90 days before your program end date. For a program ending May 15, that is February 14. File online, as early in the window as you can. Processing times vary by month and by the center that gets your case; the USCIS processing-times page gives the official figure, and our crowdsourced OPT tracker shows what people are actually experiencing. Filing in February rather than April is the best protection against a gap between graduation and your start date.

Choosing a start date is a trade-off. An early start maximizes time but starts the unemployment clock immediately if you have no offer; a late start (60 days out) buys time to find work but pushes your 12 months, STEM OPT and the next lottery later. With a July offer, pick a start date a couple of weeks before it so a late card does not delay your first day. Without an offer, most DSOs suggest the middle of the window.

March 2027: the lottery you may already be in

If you have accepted a return offer or a new-grad offer, your employer may register you for the H-1B lottery in March 2027, before you graduate, for an October 1 start. That works only if you will have your degree by the time the petition is filed (April–June) and the employer is willing to do it this early. Ask in February. Being registered a year earlier is a free extra draw — it costs the employer the $215 registration fee and some paperwork — and under the weighted system a higher wage level improves your odds, so ask before the March registration where your offered salary falls against the OEWS wage levels for your occupation and city.

If you are not registered this March, nothing is lost: you will be in the March 2028 and March 2029 lotteries while on OPT and STEM OPT.

Separately, the $100,000 H-1B fee from the September 2025 proclamation has been vacated by court orders and is not being collected as of this writing; even when it was in force, USCIS exempted change-of-status petitions for people already in the United States, the normal path from F-1.

April to June 2027: graduation, the card, the start

Your EAD should arrive. Check the card for errors the day it comes; a wrong date or misspelled name needs a correction request immediately. Report your employer in the SEVP Portal within ten days of starting work, and keep your address current — these reporting duties are yours, not your DSO's.

If you have no offer, your unemployment clock starts on your EAD start date. Ninety days is thirteen weeks. Treat this period as a full-time job: apply daily and widen the field. Unpaid work for a nonprofit or volunteer work related to your degree counts as employment on initial OPT if it is at least 20 hours a week and you document it; self-employment and contract work can count too. Talk to your DSO about what to record, because the burden of proof is yours.

If you use an AI agent to apply at volume, our guide on letting an agent apply for you covers what is allowed and honest, and Imba Jobs' open endpoint lets it clear the repetitive part while you spend your hours on conversations.

July 2027 to February 2028: working, and setting up the next draw

Two things now run in parallel.

Build the H-1B case. Ask HR by November whether they will register you in March 2028 and which OEWS wage level your salary meets for your occupation and area: the registration declares that level, and the later LCA and petition must stay consistent with it. Some employers set an internal cutoff for registrations in January; miss it and you wait a year.

Prepare for STEM OPT. If your degree qualifies, start the I-983 conversation with your manager in the autumn. The form requires concrete training goals and a named supervisor, and a first-time HR team can take weeks. Confirm the company is in E-Verify; if it is not, enrollment takes time and some companies refuse. Your STEM filing window opens 90 days before your EAD expires, and you want the plan signed well before then.

March 2028: the main lottery

Registration runs in the first half of March; results arrive by the end of the month. If you are selected, your employer files the petition between April 1 and June 30, requesting a change of status effective October 1. Once the petition is filed, cap-gap keeps your OPT valid even if your EAD expires in the summer. If the petition is still pending on October 1, cap-gap continues to April 1, 2029.

If you are not selected, you still have STEM OPT, which puts you in the March 2029 and March 2030 lotteries as well. Three draws across OPT and STEM OPT is the normal shape of this path, not the failure case. Read our guide on alternatives to the lottery too: cap-exempt employers, O-1 and country-specific categories exist for people the lottery misses.

April to July 2028: the STEM extension

File the STEM OPT I-765 in the 90 days before your initial EAD expires — for a June 2027 start that means filing in March or April 2028. Include the signed I-983 and your DSO's new I-20 with the STEM recommendation. If the card has not arrived by your expiry date, you may keep working for up to 180 days while it is pending, but you cannot change employers during that window without a new I-983. On STEM OPT you report to your DSO: confirm your name, address, employer and employment status every six months for the validation reports; submit an I-983 self-evaluation, signed by your supervisor, within 10 days of the 12- and 24-month marks and when a job ends; and report a new employer with a new I-983 within 10 days. The SEVP Portal only updates contact and existing-employer details.

Your unemployment allowance is now 150 days total, including whatever you used on initial OPT. Count it.

Travel, a standing caution

Travel on OPT or STEM OPT is legal and routine, and it is where people get stuck. An expired F-1 visa stamp means a consular appointment abroad, and student visa processing has been slower and more scrutinized since 2025. If your stamp is expired or your EAD or H-1B petition is pending, do not book a flight before talking to your DSO. Carry your EAD, an I-20 with a travel signature under six months old, a job letter and recent pay stubs.

The one-page version

Talk to a professional

Every date above is a general rule, and general rules have exceptions that depend on your program, your employer and your history. Your DSO is your first stop for anything involving SEVIS, I-20s, program dates and reporting. An immigration attorney is the right person for questions about your H-1B petition, a change of employer during a pending case, travel with a pending application, or anything involving a prior status problem.