Filing Deadlines for F-1 OPT Applicants

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recently learned that some US CIS Service Centers have started taking a restrictive approach to the filing deadlines for F-1 Optional Practical Training (OPT) applications. 

Until recently, whenever US CIS received an OPT application more than 30 days after the DSO has recommended OPT in SEVIS, the US CIS would simply send a Request for Evidence (RFE) to the F-1 applicant requiring a new Form I-20 signed by the DSO and the DSO was required to sign the Form I-20 after reprinting it from SEVIS which the student can then submit to the US CIS.  However, US CIS recently has taken a position that the regulation does not allow this approach and the applications submitted more than 30 days after the DSO’s recommendation of OPT in SEVIS are now being denied. 

To avoid a possible denial of an OPT application, it is recommended that the student must file the Form I-765 and supporting I-20 with the US CIS within the mandated 30 days of the OPT recommendation in SEVIS.  If for some reason a student is unable to do so, the DSO should cancel the original recommendation in SEVIS and enter a new recommendation. The process of issuing a new Form I-20 will no longer be sufficient.