![]() It's very different from employer sponsored H-1B. Most students are fully capable of pretty quickly putting together and submitting their own applications for OPT and later extending the OPT. Is it necessary for the vast majority of students? No. In short, sure, you or your employer can pay to have someone help you with your own OPT application. It is though likely to add an extra layer of bureaucracy that, as you've seen, can take some of the control of timing of the application steps outside of your own control. But it's ultimately just help as it's still your application and not employer sponsored. Anyone can pay (or have the employer pay) for an attorney to do that. Congrats to anyone who gets that perk from their employer! Anyone is entitled at any point to get assistance with their OPT applications if they want it. Of course, it's great if your employer is willing to pay your application fee for you. ![]() SEVP through their Study in the States resources provide a lot of instructions for students about how to apply. Most schools will still provide instruction and assistence in the process as the SEVIS record, I-20, and reporting requirements are still through them since it's still F-1 student status tied to that university. The OPT STEM extension application is very similar to the OPT application most students already completed once. I just don't want students reading this to feel like they need to run out and spend extra money on an OPT application or somehow get the idea that there is some sort of actual privilege they're missing by not being able to name drop a big law firm helping them file their own OPT application for them. There's really no priviledge or prestige in having someone else help one with an OPT application. You can pay (or your company can pay) to have someone help you with it, but it's still your own relatively simple application to (in this case) extend your already existing benefit of OPT. It's also a much more basic application than is H-1B. And they're not for a new status but just for a benefit of your own existing F-1 student status. They're your, not your employer's, responsibility. OPT and STEM OPT aren't employer sponsored. ![]() Of course most employers then use attorneys or in house staff (common for companies sponsoring many employees) for their own immigration interactions with the U.S. H-1B is also a lot more complicated than is OPT. H-1B is employer sponsored, and it's the employer's petition with USCIS. H-1B, yes, because H-1B is not your application with USCIS. The only plus side is that we don’t have to do everything on our own. I have not had a good experience with fragomen so far because they just take too long to get back and apply for stuff. After multiple emails and requests, they finally sent my EAD card and I got it on July 8th. So I called my attorney and asked to send the EAD card this week itself. ![]() They finally got back to me on July 7th saying they will send my card next week for some reason. USPS said they delivered the mail on July 5th but Fragomen did not send any email about it until I asked everyday if it was sent or not. Now I did not check the forms properly but apparently the card was sent to my attorney at Fragomen. July 6th: Status changed to “Mail was picked by USPS on July 1st”. Now it stayed at this status till July 6th. I checked everyday on and the approvals gradually reached my receipt date. Status changed to “Card is being produced”. May 16th: They applied after I sent multiple emails to apply asap. May 11th: Signed all the forms and sent everything over to them to apply. I was in a rush because I was changing jobs and first OPT was gonna expire soon. May 2nd: Asked fragomen to apply for STEM OPT asap. Posting this here so that it helps someone in the future.
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