OPT Jobs and Employer Guide for F-1 Students

Post-completion OPT gives you 12 months of employment authorisation after graduation. You apply through your Designated School Official (DSO), who recommends OPT in SEVIS, and then file Form I-765 with USCIS. Processing commonly runs 2–4 months, so file as early as your window opens.

Your Employment Authorization Document (EAD) has a start date. You cannot begin work before it, and you accrue unemployment days from that date — 90 days of unemployment is the limit on standard OPT.

Almost every US application asks two questions: are you authorised to work in the United States, and will you now or in the future require sponsorship. On OPT the honest answers are yes and yes — you are authorised now, and you will need sponsorship later.

Some employers auto-reject the second answer. Many do not. Targeting employers with a track record of filing H-1B petitions saves an enormous amount of wasted application effort, which is why every job on StemJobs carries a sponsorship signal derived from the job description and from employer filing history.

Filter for employers that mention sponsorship explicitly, and for companies with recent LCA filings. Large consultancies, semiconductor firms, universities and health systems file at high volume; cap-exempt employers such as universities and affiliated non-profits can file outside the H-1B lottery entirely.

Apply early in the posting's life. StemJobs only lists roles posted in the last three days precisely because application volume compounds fast on ATS boards.