How to Check Your OPT Unemployment Days
Short answer
Log in to the SEVP Portal and count the gaps between the employment dates it lists, or ask your DSO for the count in your SEVIS record. The portal shows your reported employers but no running day total.
What the SEVP Portal Shows
Log in to the SEVP Portal at sevp.ice.gov/opt to see the employer names and start and end dates SEVIS has for you. The portal does not display a running unemployment total. The official number lives in your SEVIS record, and the portal shows only the employment entries behind it.
The record is only as accurate as your reporting. You must report a new job, a changed employer, or an end date within 10 days, through the portal or through your DSO. A gap you never reported still counts.
Source: SEVP Portal Help, SEVP Portal employment records
Ask Your DSO for the SEVIS Total
SEVIS holds the official count and your school's Designated School Official (DSO) maintains it. Ask your DSO for the total SEVIS shows. If the record is missing a job or shows wrong dates, contact your DSO to correct it.
Report every employment change within 10 days: a new job, a changed employer, an end date. The count is built from those reports, so late reporting produces a wrong number.
Count the Gaps Yourself
Take your OPT start date from your EAD, list your employment start and end dates, and add up every calendar day not covered by a job. Weekends and federal holidays count.
An example: your OPT starts July 1 and your first job begins August 15, which is 45 days. That job ends November 30 and the next starts December 20, which is 19 more. Your total is 64 of the 90.
The counter below runs this arithmetic from your own dates. Compare the total against what SEVIS shows. The OPT unemployment days guide covers what happens as you approach 90.
Track Your Unemployment Days
Enter your OPT dates and any periods when you were not employed. The tool counts your total unemployment days.
OPT information
OPT type
Unemployment periods
No unemployment periods entered. If you have been continuously employed throughout your OPT, leave this section blank.
Add a gap in employment. Leave end date blank if you are currently unemployed.
Enter your OPT dates above to see your unemployment day count.
This tool counts calendar days based on what you enter. Your official unemployment day count is in your SEVIS record. Verify the count with your DSO before approaching the limit.
See how many unemployment days you have left
Enter your OPT start date and track the days you can spend between jobs before your authorization is at risk.
Related Questions
How Many Unemployment Days Are Allowed on OPT?
90 days. Post-completion OPT allows at most 90 days of unemployment across the entire authorization period, counted in calendar days. A 24-month STEM OPT extension raises the combined total to 150 days.
Read answerWhat Happens After 90 Days of Unemployment on OPT?
You fall out of F-1 status. You must stop working, SEVP can terminate your SEVIS record, and the 60-day grace period that normally follows OPT does not apply, because exceeding the limit is a status violation.
Read answerWhen Does the OPT Unemployment Clock Start?
On the OPT start date printed on your EAD. The 90-day count begins that day even if you are still looking for your first job, and it runs through your OPT end date.
Read answer