Guides

Guides tagged opt

• optstem opth-1bplanning

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

  The deadlines that govern an F-1 graduate's first two years of work are fixed, public and unforgiving. This is a calendar for a May graduate — when to file OPT, when the lottery runs, when the unemployment clock bites, when STEM OPT and cap-gap keep you working — with the 2026 rule changes marked.

  9 min read · reviewed Oct 17
• cptf-1 statusriskopt

  Day-1 CPT and the 2026 crackdown: what changed, what's risky, and safer alternatives

  In August 2026 SEVP told schools in writing that CPT must be integral to a curriculum and that officials who authorize it loosely are on the hook. A lawsuit followed in October. What the rule has always said, what changed in practice, how the risk lands on students, and what to do instead.

  9 min read · reviewed Oct 17