F-1 Employment

Get more information about employment opportunities and resources as an F-1 student.

On-Campus Employment

If you are maintaining your full-time student status, you may take:

  • While School is in Session: A part-time job on campus (20 hours or less per week) (fall and spring semesters) as long as it does not interfere with maintaining full-time enrollment.
  • While School is not in Session: A full-time job on campus (up to 40 hours per week) during annual vacations and breaks.
    1. Find a job on campus.
    2. Obtain an offer of employment.
      Students should obtain an offer letter from their employer.
      The letter should be signed and appear on the College’s letterhead.
      The letter should include the following pieces of information:

      • Your Name and Student ID Number
      • Position Name
      • Office Offering the Position
      • Dates of hire
      • Address of office location
      • Hours per week
    3. Make an appointment with the P/DSO in the Office of International Student Services to go through your on-campus employment plans.
    4. Begin working if you already have a Social Security Number or apply for a Social Security Number with your P/DSO.

    If you have never worked in the US before, you will need to apply for a Social Security Number with your P/DSO.

Curricular Practical Training, or CPT

Curricular Practical Training (or, CPT) are internships, cooperative education, student teaching placements, or practica you decide to do with sponsoring employers while you are in school at Champlain.

The training must be an integral part of an established curriculum, related to your major, essential to achieving an educational objective, and authorized by your P/DSO before you begin your internship (this includes orientations, onboarding exercises, etc).

At Champlain College, CPT can be required or recommended by your program. CPT can be paid or unpaid. It can be for credit or not for credit.

Some academic scenarios for CPT are (this is not the exhaustive list so please speak to your P/DSO):

  1. You are taking a course for credit that is specifically called an internship course.
  2. You are scheduled to train/work at a job site where you complete either a project or specific training/work for a course taken for credit.
  3. You are expected to complete a work experience that is required of all students in the academic program, whether credit is given or not.
  4. You are expected to complete a work experience that fulfills a graduation requirement.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

If you don’t obtain prior authorization from your P/DSO for CPT, you are considered in violation of status. In such cases, the P/DSO is required by U.S. federal regulations to immediately terminate your SEVIS record.

  • To be eligible for practical training permission, you must:

    1. Hold valid F-1 nonimmigrant status (i.e. be enrolled full-time and be maintaining legal status).
    2. Have been a full-time student in the U.S. for one academic year (i.e. two semesters).
    1. You schedule a meeting with your academic advisor and complete the CPT Advisor Authorization Form.
    2. By email, you send your potential employer the link to this sample letter here and they produce the official offer letter for the internship.
    3. Once you have both the form and the letter complete, you schedule an appointment with your P/DSO and bring those documents to your appointment.
    4. During the appointment, your P/DSO will evaluate the documents. If all the documents are in order, they will authorize CPT in SEVIS and issue an updated Form I-20. You must not work outside of the specified dates on the updated Form I-20.
    • You must be a registered, full-time student.
    • Please note that if you are in your last semester and have done a reduced course load, you are considered full-time and maintaining your status.
    • If you are participating in CPT in either the summer or winter terms, it is not necessary for you to be registered full-time in order to be authorized for training/employment for CPT; however, you must be pre-registered for the next required semester (i.e. you must be pre-registered for Fall if you are planning on doing a summer CPT opportunity).
    • CPT employment is valid only for the dates of authorization. Authorization must be obtained each semester you will be participating in CPT.
    • Curricular Practical Training is authorized as part-time or full-time. Part-time practical training is limited to a maximum of 20 hours per week. Full-time practical training is anything over 20 hours a week.
    • There is no limit to the number of times you may participate in part-time CPT as long as you maintain valid F-1 student status.
    • If you use 365 days or more of full-time CPT, you are ineligible for Optional Practical Training (OPT).
    • You must report all changes to their P/DSO immediately.
    • If the training is paid, you will use your updated Form I-20 with CPT authorization to your employer as part of the I-9 process.

Optional Practical Training, or OPT

Optional Practical Training (OPT) = one year (12 months) of eligibility to work in the United States in a job that is directly related to the major field of study.

The vast majority of international students apply for post-completion OPT, which means that the period of employment would start in the grace period immediately following program completion and graduation.

Time frame End to End: 2-4 months.

    • Enrolled full-time in an academic program for at least one academic year before beginning OPT.
    • May apply up to 90 days before but no later than 60 days after completing your degree.
    • Must have not already used 12 months of full-time OPT.
    • Must submit your application while you are still in the United States.

  • Generally, these are the elements of an OPT Application (changes/depends on the method of application – online or paper):

    1. Fill out forms I-765 and G-1145 (for paper-based applications), or file online at https://www.uscis.gov/i-765.
    2. All prior Form I-20s (first and second pages)
    3. Copy of passport biographical information page
    4. Copy of F-1 student visa
    5. Copy of Form I-94 printout
    6. Completed Academic Advisor’s Recommendation for OPT indicating the date that you expect to complete your studies and the fields that you would like to pursue.
    7. Completed Student Acknowledgement of Responsibility with the desired OPT dates.
    8. Please consult the I-765 fee schedule on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
    9. Two 2×2 U.S. passport-style photos/1 Digital 2×2 U.S. passport-style photo.
    10. OPT Recommended Form I-20 generated after your P/DSO sees your full, draft OPT application.
    1. You MUST have an OPT EAD Card in your hands to begin work.
    2. You must work between the start and end dates listed on your OPT EAD Card.
    3. Employment through OPT will automatically be terminated if you transfer to another school in the US or start a new course of study.
    4. You only have 90 days of unemployment while on OPT —you must report any employment to your P/DSO so that they can put this information in SEVIS. If you have 90 days consecutively without reporting any employment to your P/DSO, your SEVIS record will be automatically terminated by the US government.