I’m an international Master’s student (non-STEM from India) at a major Texas university scheduled to graduate in May 2021. I received an internship offer (Employer is located in California) which is slated to start on 1st June right after graduation. The issue is that I just began the OPT (Optional Practical Training) process since I wasn’t expecting to receive an offer. The international student advisors at my university told me that my OPT work authorization won’t arrive by my internship start date since the process typically takes 3 months.
My first thought was to extend my graduation into the summer and use CPT (Circular Practical Training) instead but the international advisors said this couldn’t be done because I’m not only on track to complete my entire coursework this semester but also CPT can’t usually be used as a bridge between an F1 visa and OPT. I don’t want to bring this up with my employer to ask to postpone my start date and risk losing my only offer I have altogether.
There has to be a way to start work when somebody gets a late offer and early start date. Has Covid led to any accommodations for this sort of immigration stuff? Any legal/immigration advice on how to navigate through this would really help. Thanks.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/mr70p4/please_help_opt_work_authorization_will_arrive/