Avoid Accruing More Than 90 Days of Unemployment

5. Avoid accruing more than 90 days of unemployment during entire period of authorized post-completion OPT.

What qualifies as OPT employment:

• All employment while on OPT must be directly related to your degree program. The EAD is not employer specific, so you may change employers at will. Any employment outside your field of study is unauthorized and is a substantive violation of your status;
• You must be working at least 20 hours per week. Employment hours among multiple employers may be combined to meet the 20 hours per week minimum requirement;
• Employment may be paid or unpaid as long as it does not violate U.S. labor laws.

Additional information on qualifying types of employment while on OPT can be found on our website Links to an external site..

 

What qualifies as unemployment:

Each day (including weekends) during the period when OPT authorization begins and ends that the student does not have qualifying employment counts as a day of unemployment. OPT authorization begins on the employment start date shown on the student’s EAD.

Students on post-completion OPT may have up to 90 days of unemployment. If you reach more than 90 days of unemployment, you are in violation of your F-1 immigration status. There is no 60 day grace period if you have exceeded 90 days of unemployment.

Exceptions to unemployment:

Time spent outside the United States during an approved period of OPT counts as unemployment against the 90 day limit, unless the student is either:

• Employed during a period of leave authorized by an employer; or
• Traveling as part of his or her employment.

 

Vacation time approved by your employer while remaining employed does not count as unemployment time.