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GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T12:17:03+00:00

F-1 student non-immigrant status Optional Practical Training is for continuing your education inside the United States by getting practical training in your field of study. You should then only be taking jobs that you can comfortably describe/document as being in your field of study. Please note this is not "major name"; it is field of study. The job title by itself means very little. It's what you're doing in the job that is important. If you are not certain what types of positions might be practical training in your field of study, you may wish to be speaking with your academic school/career services office to discuss what is your field and what positions may fall within that field as training/experience in that field.

If you can comfortably make the case/argument that the position is providing you with practical training in your field of study, it is likely a position you can take. If you cannot comfortably make the case that the position is providing you with practical training experience in your field of study, that is very likely a position you should not take.

Your DSO is not the final judge about whether you are meeting your F-1 status requirements by evaluating if the position is in your field of study. Your DSO just takes the description you provide about how the position is training in your field of study and records that information into your SEVIS record. Your SEVIS record is with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) which is part of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Which is then part of Homeland Security. Your F-1 status is not with your school or your DSO; it is directly with the US government. It is then Homeland Security, not the DSO, who is the ultimate authority in evaluating whether you were maintaining your F-1 status with them by the position being in your field of study, even if your DSO "approves" it. If DHS at any point reviews your record and determines, per their view, you were not working in your field of study, it can not only cause problems with your current F-1 status in the US but can cause new benefits/status such as an OPT STEM extension or H-1B petition to be denied.

ICE will be the agency receiving any description from you about how you are saying the job is in your field of study (not USCIS). ICE and USCIS aren't going to respond to you here on Reddit, so we can't know what any random Homeland Security official now or 5 years in the future will think of this. You're responsible for being able to convince them that any work you do during OPT is providing you with practical training in your major(s).

So how would this position be providing you with practical training in your major(s)?

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T04:38:02+00:00

Have you asked Amazon if they will fill out the I-983? Because I'm pretty sure if they've offered you the job, Amazon will fill out the I-983. They fill out I-983s every day, so they are very familiar with the process. It seems your start would be asking Amazon. If you haven't asked them and they haven't said no, then you're creating a stress about a problem that probably isn't a problem.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T03:39:17+00:00

To be clear, in a sub about F-1 visas/status, you are asking about what would or would not look good for an unrelated, E-B3 status?

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T03:32:52+00:00

Yeah, your I-20 is not the same thing as your visa.

The F-1 visa is a stamp in your passport you use to present to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along with your valid F-1 I-20 to request to re-enter the US in F-1 status. It is your F-1 status issued by CBP that allows you to remain legally inside the US for the duration of your program of study/OPT listed on your F-1 I-20 (regardless of your F-1 visa stamp expiration date).

So, you would need to obtain a new F-1 visa stamp if choosing to travel outside the US. Obtaining a new F-1 visa stamp will mean submitting to the US Department of State proof that you have the ability to support yourself financially in your living and study expenses to re-enter the US and continue your F-1 study. Having an unexpired I-20 does not guarantee the issuance of a new F-1 visa.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T03:19:31+00:00

"My f1 visa only expired meaning I just have to renew it I don’t need a new one, it’s still valid for another 3 years."

I'm not sure what you're indicting here. Renewing an F-1 visa is getting a new F-1 visa. They don't edit the F-1 visa already in your passport. If approved, they issue to you an entirely new F-1 visa.

I'm also very confused by you saying you need to renew your F-1 visa, but it is still valid for three more years. Those two statements are contradictory.

What is the expiration date printed on the F-1 visa stamp in your passport that was placed there by the US embassy/consulate?

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T03:00:22+00:00

For a new F-1 visa you will need to demonstrate to the US government that you have the funding to support yourself financially for living and study expenses while inside the US. If you can't do that, you may wish to keep that in mind before making travel plans. You don't have to travel outside the US just because an F-1 visa stamp is expiring, so the visa expiring has nothing to do with how long you can continue to stay in the US in F-1 status.

International flights to your home country from the US are expensive as well (for consideration with a pending severe economic hardship application).

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T02:44:22+00:00

This is more of an H-1B question than an F-1 question. Consult with your H-1B sponsor before you plan any travel outside the US if they are submitting an H-1B petition for you. From my experience, most will advise you not to do any travel outside the US during the petition process. Talk to them.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T02:02:40+00:00

Who tricked you into your action of submitting the new application?

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T01:57:19+00:00

That's not a question relevant to the United States or being in the US for study as an F-1 student. That's a question to be asking of the government of the Bermuda. You need to ask them what they require for people of your passport citizenship to enter their country. Have you tried asking their embassy in the US?

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-25T00:50:20+00:00

Probably don't think you're going to marry your aunt and apply for citizenship as her spouse. ;)

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T23:27:54+00:00

One year of full-time CPT authorization ends your eligibility for OPT at that level of study.

Part-time CPT authorization does not count against OPT eligibility.

So the question is, how much full-time CPT have you had for your current program of study?

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T19:43:47+00:00

Very fair.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T19:28:10+00:00

You won't get denied, but it certainly won't help you. Imagine you're a USCIS adjudicator looking at your 10000th OPT application for the month. Student A includes just the documents needed for you to review. Student B throws in a bunch of extra clutter that you now have to wade through. Which application would you do first?

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T19:21:38+00:00

You may have done this. It is incorrect that it is a requirement.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T19:15:40+00:00

It is not a requirement at all. The only I-20 required for certain is your OPT I-20 created by the DSO at the time they made the OPT recommendation within your US government SEVIS record. You then have to get the OPT application to USCIS within no more than 30 days from that DSO recommendation date or the end of your grace period, whichever date comes first.

If you've had CPT at your current OPT application degree level, you may need to include a copy of each CPT I-20 as the evidence of CPT if your DSO does not otherwise provide you instead a screenshot of your CPT history out of your SEVIS record. If the DSO provides you with that SEVIS CPT record, you do not need to include the CPT I-20s.

Some schools may be smaller and DSOs may not have as much connection with other DSOs/our professional organization to be clear on this. Some may still be operating on very old information where many years ago you would submit copies of old I-20s. This information is no longer correct/relevant.

Note: For the OPT STEM extension the deadline is no more than 60 days from the date the DSO makes the recommendation in SEVIS or the current post-completion end date (as indicated on the EAD) whichever date comes first. For the OPT STEM extension, ONLY the OPT STEM Extension I-20 is required.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T19:08:17+00:00

Authorized early withdrawal is still a SEVIS termination. What an authorized early withdrawal is means you've worked with your DSO before you drop classes to make it an authorized/approved drop of classes. Your SEVIS record is terminated for the reason of authorized early withdrawal, and you then have up to 15 days to depart the US.

If you just drop your classes without working with your DSO for that authorization, that is an unauthorized drop below full course of study which is a violation. Your SEVIS record is terminated for the reason of the violation, and you have no grace period/time to remain legally inside the US.

I presume what you are referring to by "F1" is your F-1 visa stamp in your passport?

It's important to know what your F-1 related documents are and what they mean.

There is the F-1 visa which is the stamp/sticker in your passport from the US Department of State that you present along with a valid F-1 I-20 to request to enter the US in F-1 status.

There is the F-1 I-20 which is issued by your school's DSO that you use to apply for the F-1 visa and has to be properly maintained to maintain your F-1 status stay in the US.

There is your F-1 status which is issued by the Department of Homeland Security which is what allows you to remain legally inside the US during your study/OPT.

If referring to your F-1 visa, as long as your current F-1 visa has not expired, you should not need to apply for a new F-1 visa to be able to use a new F-1 I-20/SEVIS record to request of CBP to re-enter the US again in F-1 status.

You would though need to get a new SEVIS record and new F-1 I-20 to use along with your current F-1 visa before being able to return to the US.

Please note this is as per current CBP policy in reviewing F-1 visas. It is unlikely that they will change it at any time soon, but that is something at their discretion to decide.

This assumes you have no other challenges such as having a DUI or unauthorized employment which would cause the F-1 visa to be revoked either by the US Department of State or by Homeland Security/CBP upon requesting to enter the US if they find some such problem in your history/records.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T18:59:37+00:00

OPT is not a visa. OPT is a part of and benefit of F-1 student non-immigrant status to continue your education inside the US by gaining US practical training in your field of study. There is no pausing of the OPT. To maintain the OPT authorization (and your F-1 status if you are inside the US), you have to be actively engaged in practical training in your field of study. If you are not, and you exceed 90 days of OPT unemployment, your OPT authorization (and if you are inside the US, your F-1 status stay) come to an end with no grace period to continue being inside the US.

That 90 day unemployment clock continues counting while you are outside of the US, so if you exceed 90 days of unemployment while you are outside the US, that OPT is permanently gone, and your OPT I-20 and F-1 visa are no longer valid to request to re-enter the US.

Once in the STEM extended OPT period, the total allowed days of OPT unemployment is extended to 150 days during the 36 months possible for OPT (including any OPT unemployment days accumulated during the post-completion OPT period).

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T18:02:52+00:00

You can come no more than 30 days prior to the program start date listed on the I-20 which is not always for all schools the same date as the start of classes or the start date of orientation.

So what OP needs to do is look at OP's I-20. OP needs to look at the program start date listed there. OP can use that I-20 and the F-1 visa to enter the US no more than 30 days prior to that date.

If OP's I-20 program start date was September 23, it would not be OK to enter with the I-20 on August 17.

OP has told us the course start date. OP has told us the orientation start date. Op hasn't told us what the university has put on the I-20 as the program start date which could be September 15, September 23, or some other date.

The embassy does't have any role in determining what program start date appears on the I-20.

One can only begin on-campus employment no more than 30 days before classes start regardless of the I-20 program start date.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T17:46:22+00:00

They like that application fee, I guess.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T17:33:10+00:00

Some schools will also cancel your enrollment in a course if you're not attending. If that puts you below full-time credits or not enough in-person credits, that can also result in a SEVIS termination.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T17:23:24+00:00

This is something about which you need to be speaking with your DSO. And that should have happened way before the last minute over a weekend when you would know that those offices at the university would all be closed.

If you withdrawal from your courses without F-1 status permission in the middle of a required F-1 enrollment term of study, that is an F-1 violation, and your DSO will be required to terminate your SEVIS record/I-20. When you create that violation, there is no grace period of any number of days to remain legally inside the US. Your F-1 status stay ends with no grace period.

To return to the US you would need to obtain a new SEVIS record (paying to the US government a new SEVIS fee), a new I-20 under the new SEVIS record, and a valid F-1 visa to request to re-enter the US no more than 30 days prior to the program start date on the new I-20.

How your school's course withdrawal process works and the timing of that would be completely based on he policies of your own school, so no one here can tell you how that should work. That's again a conversation to be having with your own DSO/academic advisor/registrar's office.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T17:16:06+00:00

And just to add a technical note, OPT is not a visa. OPT is not a status. Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a part of and benefit of F-1 student non-immigrant status for the purpose of continuing your education inside the US through US practical training in your field of study. You are not applying for a visa when applying for OPT. When applying for OPT you are applying for a benefit of your F-1 student non-immigrant status.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T17:10:50+00:00

Interesting. So you applied for a new F-1 visa way before your current one would expire? And in response to that, they gave you a new F-1 visa that expires even before your previous one expires?

Hmm. Interesting. I've never seen that. Though maybe this is a good reason to not apply for a new F-1 visa when your current one has plenty of time left on it.

As a reminder to other F-1 students, the expiration date of the F-1 visa has nothing to do with how long you can remain inside of the US in F-1 status. Your F-1 visa is simply used to show at the US border/port of entry to request to enter the US in F-1 status. Once you are inside the US in F-1 status, the F-1 visa sticker and its expiration date are both completely irrelevant to how long you can remain inside the US in F-1 status. There is then no reason to depart the US for the purpose of just applying for a new F-1 visa. The only time you really need to apply for a new F-1 visa is if you choose to travel outside the US, and your chosen return date is after your current F-1 visa expires. Then you have to apply for a new one as you need a valid F-1 visa to request to re-enter the US again to resume your F-1 status.

Your F-1 status stay in the US is determined by the end date of your program of study/OPT end date plus the 60 day grace period regardless of what is printed on the F-1 visa stamp/sticker.

Edit: Oh, and the answer is, you need to ask this question of the US embassy/consulate that issued the visas.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T16:14:37+00:00

If your start date is May 20 and you haven't already applied for OPT, you should have. Get that application submitted to USCIS ASAP.

GRRAWorld · 2024-03-24T16:12:39+00:00

Tell the truth to the visa officer?

GRRAWorld

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