How to Report OPT Employment (and What to Do if You Forgot)

How to Report a New Employer in the SEVP Portal

Students on post-completion OPT report employment through the SEVP Portal, the Department of Homeland Security site at sevp.ice.gov. On or after the start date on your EAD, SEVP sends an account creation email to the address in your SEVIS record. The sender is [email protected], and the message often lands in spam, so search your folders before assuming it never arrived.

1. Create your portal account from the link in the SEVP email, then log in at sevp.ice.gov.
2. Open the employer section and select Add New Employer.
3. Enter the employer name and the full physical address where you work.
4. Enter your employment start date. This is the date you began working. The portal will not accept a date earlier than the start date on your EAD.
5. Describe how the job relates to your degree. One or two specific sentences connecting your duties to your field of study are enough.
6. Save the record and confirm the employer appears in your employer list.

When a job ends, log back in and add the end date to that employer record. Gaps between jobs count toward your unemployment limit, so keeping end dates current matters as much as reporting new employers.

If you cannot create an account, are locked out, or the portal will not accept an update, contact your DSO. A DSO can reset portal access and can enter or correct employment information directly in SEVIS at any time.

Source: SEVP Portal Help, Study in the States, DHS instructions for updating employer information in the SEVP Portal

What to Do if You Missed the 10-Day Deadline

Report the employment now, with the real dates. Log in to the SEVP Portal and add the employer with your actual start date, not the date you are entering it. If the portal will not accept the record, ask your DSO to enter it directly in SEVIS.

Then tell your DSO what happened. Give the complete picture in one message: the employer name, the exact start date, the date you reported it, and documentation such as an offer letter or pay stubs. DSOs handle late reports regularly, and they can do more when they have all the details up front.

A late report by itself is not listed in SEVP guidance as a reason to terminate your record. The damage happens in the background instead: until an employer record exists in SEVIS, every day since your last reported employment counts as unemployment, even though you were working.

One late report, corrected promptly, is a situation DSOs resolve routinely. If you have several unreported changes, or your SEVIS record has already been terminated, consult an immigration attorney in addition to your DSO.

What the 10-Day Rule Covers

The requirement comes from the federal OPT regulation: students on post-completion OPT must report changes to their employment or personal information within 10 days of the change. The clock starts on the day the change happens, not the day you remember it. If you started work on April 10, the deadline is April 20 whether or not you knew about the rule.

• Starting your first job on OPT
• Changing employers, or adding a second employer
• A change in your employer's name or address
• Losing or leaving a job, including the end date
• A change in your own legal name, home address, or email

The 10 days are calendar days. Neither the regulation nor SEVP guidance excludes weekends or holidays, so count every day from the date of the change.

Source: 8 CFR 214.2(f)(12)(ii), Federal regulation on OPT student reporting requirements

Unreported Time Counts as Unemployment

SEVIS does not know you have a job until an employer record says so. The system counts unemployment by looking for days without employer information: every day between your OPT start date and your first reported employer, and every day between reported jobs, is counted as a day of unemployment.

Unreported working time looks identical to real unemployment in SEVIS, which is how a forgotten report can quietly use up the limit while you are employed. The OPT unemployment days guide explains how the counter works and how to check where you stand.

The counter is corrected, not punished. Once the late employer record is entered with the actual start date, the days you worked stop counting as unemployment. Late reporting does not add penalty days; it leaves wrong data in your record until someone fixes it.

Reporting Self-Employment and Multiple Employers

Self-employment is reported the same way and on the same 10-day clock. In the SEVP Portal, mark the record as self-employment and enter your business name and address, or your own name and address if you work under your own name. The self-employment on OPT guide covers what counts as self-employment and how to document it.

If you work for more than one employer at the same time, report each one. Every job must relate to your field of study, and each employer record needs its own start and end dates.