Work at least 20 hours per week in a job or internship related to your major. Both paid and unpaid experiences may be counted as “employment” for the purposes of maintaining status.
Do not exceed 90 days of unemployment during your 12-month period of OPT authorization. Unemployment days only accrue during your approved period of OPT. Your grace period and OPT processing time do not count toward unemployment days.
Report any changes to your employment during OPT. Your employment details MUST be reported to the Department of Homeland Security via the SEVIS database. We strongly encourage you to report those details through the OPT Reporting E-Forms in WorldLink in order to ensure that your days of unemployment are counted accurately. However, you may choose to use the OPT Student Portal to report directly in SEVIS.