Once approved for OPT, students must report in the SEVP OPT Portal all of their OPT employment within ten days of any employment changes.
Please read the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) Portal Student User Guide regarding how to create an SEVP OPT Portal account and report employment activities during a period of
approved post-completion OPT. All students who have been approved for OPT by USCIS and reached the OPT start date on their EAD Card will receive an email invitation from SEVP to
set up their SEVP OPT Portal account.
If you have been approved for OPT and do not receive the SEVP email within five days after your OPT start date, have been locked out of your portal account, or received a notice from SEVP to contact your Designated School Official (DSO) for portal access,
please submit the ISSS OPT Portal Reset request form for further assistance.
When you report your employment in the SEVP OPT Portal, you will need to enter the following information:
- Self Employed Check box
- Click this box only if you are self-employed. The portal will then enter your name in the Employer Name section.
- Employer Name
- Employer Address
- Must be a U.S.-based address
- Job Title
- Full-Time/Part-Time
- Use the drop-down list to select full-time (more than 20 hours per week) or part-time (less than 20 hours per week) to describe your employment hours.
- COVID-19 Pandemic Guidance Update: Please be advised that for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, employment of 20 hours per week or less may be reported as full-time work on OPT.
- Employment Start Date
- Start dates cannot be before the start date on your OPT authorization.
- Employment End Date
- End date cannot be reported after the end date of your OPT authorization.
- Relation to Field of Study
- Explain how the job related to the degree that qualified you for this practical training experience.
For more information about the SEVP OPT Portal, please see:
After reporting your employment in the portal, if you would like an updated I-20 showing your employment details, please submit an I-20 Reprint Request in iGlobal.
If you do not successfully report an employment change within ten days of the change to the SEVP OPT Portal, you may instead submit an OPT Employment Report in iGlobal, and ISSS will update the employment on your record and issue you an updated I-20. Please be advised that ISSS cannot update employment details on your record after your OPT employment authorization end date.