Working With Visas
Let’s get started with a quick quiz: What is the maximum amount of time that an International student can work in the US after graduation? And yes, this means legally. The choices are (A)Forever, (B) Until Chuck Norris approves of it, (C) 12 months, (D) 41 months, or (E) 15 years, 2 months and 25 days.
If you answered A, B or E and you are an International Student on F-1 or J-1 visa, this may be a huge wake-up call for you. According to the Rules and Regulations, an international student cannot work
here forever without other necessary validation like a Green Card or an H1 Visa. If you chose B or E, you probably are a dawg from UGA and do not deserve to read this.
International Students not only have to worry about nding a job in the present economic crisis, but also have to think about their work authorization. There are two types of work authorizations that the students can primarily obtain – Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT). Now going back to the question, the correct answers can be one of either C or D. A lot of students would think that once they graduate, they have only about 12 months of work left before they decide to get an H-1 Visa or get into graduate school; but that is in fact incorrect. The correct answer is D – 41 months. Let us discuss what the different breakouts are
CPT (Curricular Practical Training) is the work authorization by which students can work up to 12 months in a program recognized by Georgia Tech. This is the kind of work authorization which one has to do before graduation. The other authorization is OPT (Optional Practical Training). Now, the traditional 12 months that the International students used to use is still there, but an amendment has been made: the work period for STEM Majors (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has been increased by 17 months. This gives the international students a total of 12+12+17=41 months to work and complement their university education.
Everything until this point looks good, but sadly this is not the case. First of all, many employers handle data that is private or for national security and due to new measures by the Obama administration, are forced to hire only US citizens. A lot of good candidates are turned down by big companies like Lockheed Martin, FBI and Northrop Grumman because of their citizenship status, and although it may seem unfair, it is standard policy. Secondly, only Co-op jobs can be considered to be a part of CPT and since Co-op jobs do not attract large companies as much, the option really loses its charm. It effectively takes out 12 months out of the available 41 months to work. Thirdly, if Co-op exceeds even one day more than 12 months, the entire OPT is canceled!
The entire process is very delicate and must be well researched in advance. For all international students out there reading this, be very careful in what you do so you don’t get defeated by the bureaucratic red tape.
