F-1 Add, Edit, Delete Optional Practical Training (OPT) Employer

Last updated: September 5, 2024

Quick Links:

Overview
Resources
Relationship between Employment and the Student’s Major Area of Study
Special Employment Circumstances
Add or Update Employer Information
Delete Employer
Correct Employer Data: Correction Requests and Data Fixes

While on any type of optional practical training (OPT), a student is required to report the following:

Change in student’s legal name.
Change in student’s physical, mailing, or employer address while on OPT.
Change in employment or interruption of employment.

Students on post-completion OPT, including the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Extension, can report certain personal address and employment changes using their Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) Portal accounts.

Anything the student cannot or does not report via the SEVP Portal, must be reported to their designated school official (DSO) within 10 days. DSOs have 21 days from the date the student reports a change to update the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) to reflect the changes.

Federal Regulations and Policies:

8 CFR 214.2(f)(12)(i)
8 CFR 214.2(f)(12)(ii)
8 CFR 214.3(g)(2)
SEVP Update to OPT Policy Guidance, April 23, 2010
SEVP Policy Guidance: Practical Training – Determining a Direct Relationship between Employment and a Student’s Major Area of Study, September 27, 2019

Other employment resources:

“SEVP Policy Guidance: Practical Training – Determining a Direct Relationship Between Employment and a Student's Major Area of Study” explains SEVP’s stance on determining whether the OPT employment is directly related to the student’s major area of study and how to explain this relationship in SEVIS. It is the student’s responsibility to relate the training opportunity to the program of study. If the relationship is not clear, it is the student who must identify the connection.

Before you add an employer in SEVIS, the student should give you a written description that includes:

Job title
Employer name
Major area of study
Whether the employment is full-time or the average number of hours worked per week
Description of regular job duties and how they directly relate to the degree that qualified the student for OPT. For example:
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering: I work full-time as an Electrical Engineer at ABC Corporation, a government contractor. In my job, I analyze client requirements for electrical systems and provide them with cost estimates of such systems. My work requires understanding of electrical circuit theory, which I studied in-depth at the University of ABC.
- Master's degree in Music Therapy: I am working at a hospital playing the harp in patient rooms. I also conduct hands-on, harp beginner workshops for long-term patients. On average, I work at the hospital 35 hours a week. My duties directly use the skills and knowledge I acquired from my coursework and degree in music therapy.

A student may have a special employment situation that requires the DSO to edit the student’s employment record.

Circumstance	How to Report
Change employers	Edit existing employer to reflect end date of employment. Add new employer.
Self-employed, Independent Contractor	Enter the primary location where the student performs the work. Note: Depending on the nature of the employment, this may be a residence, office, or formal business.
One employer with multiple sites	Enter the employment location that best meets the reporting responsibilities to the DSO and to SEVP. Note: The DSO may want to confirm that the supervisors at the primary employment location understand their reporting responsibilities to the school and have explained those responsibilities to supervisors at the secondary employment locations.
Multiple short-term gigs [employment] in one period	Indicate the student is self-employed. Enter in the Employment Remarks section what the student is doing; for example, playing music or acting with multiple gigs.
Volunteer	Enter the name and address of the company where the student volunteers. Indicate in the Employment Remarks section that the student is a volunteer.
Unemployed	If the student did not have an employer, do not enter anything. If the student had an employer in the past, but is currently unemployed, edit the End Date for the previous employer. Note: The End Date must be before the actual OPT approved period of work end date.

All employer Start Dates and End Dates must be within the Actual OPT-approved period of work authorization . Employer work dates that are outside this date range:

Affect the calculation of student’s days of unemployment.
Add the student to the Students who have Approved OPT without Current Employer Information Alert list.

To report or update OPT participation for a student on any type of OPT:

1. Go to the Student Information page.

Student Information page with OPT Request call out.png

2. Click OPT Request. The OPT Employment page opens.

OPT Employment page with Add Employer button highlighted

How you enter employer data affects the Unemployment Counter. Entering information in the following order will help prevent your student from accruing false unemployment days.
- Add a new employer.
- Shorten/remove existing employer.
Exceeding the unemployment day limit could cause auto-termination.

3. Click Add Employer or Edit in the Actions column next to the employer name:

Add Employer: The Add OPT Employer page opens.
Edit: The Edit OPT Employer page opens to update information about that employer.

The fields on the Add OPT Employer page and Edit OPT Employer page are identical.

Screenshot of Add OPT Employer page with Add OPT Employer button highlighted

4. Enter or change the relevant information about the student’s job: (An asterisk (*) indicates a required field.)

Field	Descriptions
Explain how the employment is related to student’s course of study*	Describe how the employment relates to the student’s major area of study. Notes: See the "Relationship between Employment and the Student’s Major Area of Study" section at the top of this article for more details and for sample entries for this field. Actively seeking employment (ASE) is not an acceptable entry in this field.
Self Employed	Check this box, if the student is self-employed. If checked, SEVIS populates the Employer Name with the student’s name. Note: Students on the STEM extension cannot be self-employed.
Employer Name*	Enter the business name of the employer. Note: Only special characters allowed are: - , . : &
Employer EIN	Enter the employer’s Employer Identification Number (EIN). Note: This is a required field for students on the STEM extension.
Job Title	Enter the student’s job title.
Start Date*	Enter the date the student began the job: This date cannot be before the Actual OPT Start Date. DSOs can enter a date that is in the past. Note: All employer Start Dates and End Dates must be within the Actual OPT start and end dates. Employer work dates outside this date range: Affect the calculation of student’s days of unemployment. Add the student to the Students who have Approved OPT without Current Employer Information Alert list.
End Date	Enter the date the student stopped working for the employer. Leave this field blank, if the end date is not known. Note: See the Start Date Note above regarding employer start and end dates.
Full Time/Part Time*	Click either the Full Time or Part Time radio button.
Employer Address	Click Add Employer Address to enter the employer’s address. This opens an Add Address modal like the one used to enter a student’s address. Follow the guidance on entering U.S. addresses.
Last Name [Supervisor]	Enter the last name of the student’s supervisor. This is a required field for students on the STEM extension.
First Name [Supervisor]	Enter the first name of the student’s supervisor. This is a required field for students on the STEM extension.
Telephone Number [Supervisor]	Enter the telephone number for the student’s supervisor. This is a required field for students on the STEM extension.
Email Address [Supervisor]	Enter the email address for the student’s supervisor. This is a required field for students on the STEM extension.

5. Review the information and click either:

Add OPT Employer/Update OPT Employer: Adds the employer to the OPT authorization or updates the employment information.
- Add/Update Successful page opens.
- Employer should now be listed in the Employer Information section of the OPT Employer page, or the employment information was updated.
Cancel: Cancels the action and returns the user to the OPT Employment page.

Repeat this process to add a second or a third employer, or to edit existing employer information.

A DSO may need to delete an employer if the employment did not happen. For example:

Employer withdrew the job offer before the student began work.
Student never worked for the employer.
DSO entered an employer in error.

The DSO can delete an employer before, during, or after the employer's expected period of employment.

If employment occurred for the student:

Do not delete previous employers.
Do not edit or overwrite the previous employer information to add a new employer.

For students on post-completion or STEM OPT:

Deleting an employer may affect the status of a student’s record. These days count as unemployment, if there is not another concurrent employer.
SEVIS will terminate student records, if the student:
- Exceeds 90 days of unemployment during post-completion OPT.
- Exceeds 150 days of unemployment during post-completion and STEM periods.

Note: This functionality is currently turned off.

To delete an employer for a student on any type of OPT:

1. Go to the OPT Employment page.

Screenshot of OPT Employment page with Delete Employer button highlighted

2. Click Delete next to the employer you want to delete. The Delete Employer Confirmation modal opens.

3. Enter the *Delete Reason.

4. Click either:

Submit: Deletes the employer’s information. Delete Successful page opens.
Cancel: Cancels the action and returns the user to the OPT Employment page.

The deleted employer still displays on the OPT Employment page, but indicates the date the employer was deleted.

Screenshot of OPT Employment page with deleted employer

If the student’s employer information in SEVIS is not accurate, DSOs have two ways to correct data in a student record. DSOs can:
1. Add, edit, or delete OPT employer information for up to 60 days following the OPT Actual End Date.
2. Submit a Help Ticket (data fix) for any changes that cannot be requested through SEVIS. Contact the SEVP Response Center to request the data fix at:

703-603-3400 or 1-800-892-4829
sevp@hsi.dhs.gov

SEVIS Help Hub