Reporting OPT Employment

This guide explains how students may report OPT or STEM OPT employment to SEVIS as required by F-1 OPT regulations.

Standard 12 Month OPT Employment Reporting

Federal regulations require that international students report the following changes to properly maintain their student status:

• Physical home address

• Mailing addresses

• Telephone numbers

• OPT employer information

• Changes to employment information

These changes may be reported in the SEVP Portal and/or via the iVols portal.

Immigration regulations, specifically 8 CFR 214.2(f)(12)(i) requires the OPT student to report changes of name or address, changes in employment, or the interruption of employment during the OPT period.

Students may review details about requirements for OPT employment reporting on the Study in the States website: https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/sevp-portal-help/maintain-information/opt-student-reporting-requirements

Reporting OPT in iVols

Login to iVols with your Net ID and Password. Then access the “F-1 Practical Training” section. Select the “OPT Employment Reporting Form”

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This form contains conditional logic. As you fill the form, your options will update based on the answers you provide on the form. Please book an appointment with an ISSS advisor if you need assistance.

Take some time to carefully answer each of the questions on the form.

Pay special attention to the “Changes Being Reported” section. If this is your first time reporting OPT employment, please select “yes” to the prompt “I am reporting a new Job”

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Please note that you will need information about your employer, such as the employer name, job start date, whether the job is full-time, part-time, and the employer’s address. In addition, you are required to explain how the employment is related to the course work in your academic program of study. Finally, you must be able to provide your supervisor’s first and last names, phone number, and email address.

Name of Employer

Students should check with their employer to find out the official name of the employer according to E-verify. The official name of the employer should be reported to the SEVP portal or to ISSS. Sometimes an employer is know by multiple names. For example, a student who works at “Oak Ridge National Lab” may have an official employer named “UT-Battelle, LLC” or “Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education”. Please verify the official name of the employer before reporting to the SEVP portal or with the “OPT Employment Reporting form” in the iVols portal. Reporting the employer name correctly allows for consistency if the student applies for the STEM OPT extension.

STEM Extension OPT Reporting

During the 24-month STEM OPT Extension, students are required to report changes to employment, but also must confirm or validate certain information every 6 months.

Validating SEVIS Information

Every six months a student must confirm employment and address information through the iVols portal so that the student's record in SEVIS accurately reflects their current circumstance.

As part of this six-month reporting, STEM OPT students must confirm that their SEVIS information correctly identifies their:

• Legal name.

• Residential or mailing address.

• Employer name and address.

• Status of current employment.

SEVP Portal users will receive a reminder from SEVP via email 30 days before any validation report is due. Please note that STEM OPT students must report a change in this information, including any loss of employment, within 10 days of the change. A helpful checklist of all required STEM OPT extension reporting is found in this PDF: https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/assets/sevpstemoptreportingrequirementsfinal.pdf

Additional details about required STEM OPT reporting may be found here: https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/stem-opt-hub/for-students/students-stem-opt-reporting-requirements

How to report in iVols

Students may fulfill the STEM OPT reporting requirements by logging into the iVols portal with a Net ID and password, or if the Net ID has expired by using a Limited Access PIN.

After successfully logging in, students should locate the “STEM OPT Every 6-Month Reporting” form in the “F-1 Practical Training” section. This form may be used for reporting at the 6-month, 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month mark.

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After accessing the form, students should carefully enter all of the information for your U.S. address, Employer Name, Employer’s Address, and Supervisor information. This information should match the information provided on the I-983 form submitted with your STEM OPT extension application.

One difference between standard OPT and the STEM OPT Extension is the required student evaluations. These evaluations are a shared responsibility of the student and the employer to ensure that the
student’s practical training goals are being satisfactorily met. The student is responsible for
conducting self‐evaluations of their training progress. The employer must review and attest to
their accuracy. Both the Annual Self-evaluation and Final evaluation may be uploaded through the iVols portal using the STEM OPT Every 6-month Reporting form. In addition, we have created special forms solely for the purpose of uploading these forms.

The Annual Self-evaluation

Students are required to provide the Annual Self-evaluation by the end of the 12-month of the STEM OPT extension. This evaluation may be found at the top of page 5 of your I-983 form. It must be signed by the student and the employer official with signatory authority. Both the student and employer official must physically, electronically, or digitally sign the evaluations; print their name; and enter the date of their signatures.

The Final Evaluation

Students are required to provide the Final evaluation by the end of the 24-month of the STEM OPT extension. This evaluation may be found at the bottom of page 5 of your I-983 form. It must be signed by the student and the employer official with signatory authority. Both the student and employer official must physically, electronically, or digitally sign the evaluations; print their name; and
enter the date of their signatures.

In addition, If a training opportunity through STEM OPT ends early (prior to 24 months), the student must submit the final evaluation within 10 days following the conclusion of the training. There are many reasons why the STEM OPT training opportunity may end early, including departing the U.S., loss of employment, changing immigration, or enrolling in a new degree program. Regardless of the reason that the STEM OPT period ends early, students are required to submit the Final evaluation.

Deadlines for Validation Reports and Self-Evaluations

DSOs must validate a student’s employment data every six months during the STEM OPT extension. Validation reporting is done in SEVIS. Timelines include: