how to apply for cpt

Social Security Number for international students: In this guide, we will learn how to apply for a social security number (SSN) as an F1 visa or J1 visa international student. We will also learn how to obtain an SSN Letter of Ineligibility for someone unable to obtain an SSN as an F1 or J1 visa non-immigrant.

Social Security Numbers (SSN) are 9 digit numbers primarily used to report an individual’s wages to the U.S government through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to determine if a person is eligible to obtain a Social Security benefit.

Why You Need an Social Security Numbers (SSN)

As an international student on an F1 or J1 visa, you will need a Social Security Number or an SSN to do the following;

1. Receiving income and paying taxes on a job
2. Receiving government benefits, if you are considered a resident alien for tax purposes
3. Applying for a driver’s license or a state ID
4. Opening financial accounts, such as credit card accounts, and online banking accounts
5. Applying for loans, such as student loans, or car loans

Requirement for Social Security Numbers (SSN) on F1/J1 Visa

There are two prerequisites, either of which must be met in order to obtain a Social Security Card as an international student;

• You must be authorized for employment by your school’s designated school official for F1 student, and if you’re a J1 student, you must be authorized for employment by your sponsor.

This authorization usually occurs when F1 Student or J1 Student apply for on campus employment or off campus employment in the form of CPT or academic training.

• When you obtain a work authorization from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is the case for F1 international students who apply and are approved for the Optional Practical Training OPT

How to get Social Security Number for International Students

Applying for your Social Security Number (SSN) is absolutely free, and if you’ve met any of the prerequisites listed above, you may contact your local Social Security Administration office and schedule an appointment as a first time Social Security number applicant.

You would first need to complete an application for a Social Security card, as well as presenting original documents that can be used to prove your identity, your age, your work eligibility, and your U.S immigration status.

Documents required for SSN for F1 students

As an international student applying for your first time Social Security Number, it’s best to go along with you the following documents. These document include;

• An unexpired and most recent admissions stamp foreign passport, which could be used to prove your identity and your age.
• Foreign birth certificate (optional): If you have one, you can go with your foreign birth certificate that could be used to prove your age.
• I-94 arrival/departure record
• Form I-20 (F1 students)
• DS-2019 (J1 students)

These documents will be needed to prove your immigration status.

Supplementary Documents

• Letters of work authorization from your DSO or Sponsor (F1 students who plan to work on campus)
• Evidence of employment from your employer (This evidence of employment could be in the form of an awful letter or page stub)
• J1 students must also provide a letter from their sponsor authorizing them for employment.
• A valid EAD card (F1 students who plan to work in OPT)
• An F1 student who plans to work in CPT must present an I-20 endorsed for CPT by their designated school official

Note: Your on campus or CPT work must begin within 30 days from the date you apply for your SSN, in order for your SSN application to be processed.

Another way an international student can apply for the Social Security Number for the first time, is when an F1 student is applying for the Optional Practical Training (OPT) on the I-765 application form used to apply for the OPT EAD.

You can choose the option to apply for your Social Security Number. If you choose the option of applying for your Social Security Number when you complete your OPT application, then when USCIS approves your OPT application, you will also receive a Social Security card from the Social Security Administration Office.

Approved SSN Card

Once your application has been approved, your card containing the 9-digit SSN would be mailed to the address you listed on your application.

If you look at your SSN card, you would see an annotation on this card stating “Valid for Work Only with DHS Authorization”.

This ensures that your future employer verifies that you have received the legal authorization to work in the US before employing you.

Social Security Number (SSN) Denial Letter

F1 and J1 international students who do not have the work authorization or do not intend to work in the U.S can request a denial letter by visiting the Social Security Administration Office.

This letter is also called a Social Security Number Letter of Ineligibility (Form SSA-L676) and as the name implies, it States that the individual is not eligible to obtain a Social Security Number.

Requesting this letter does not affect your ability to obtain a Social Security Number in the future. In some. This letter may then be used to apply for a driver’s license or a state ID in some U.S States that accept this letter in place of a social security card.

In Summary

I believe by now, you have learned why you need a Social Security Number (SSN) and how you can obtain one as an F1 or J1 visa International Student. Also, I believe you have learned what you can do if you are ineligible to obtain a Social Security Number (SSN).

Thanks for reading this detailed guide on social security number for international students.

DISCLAIMER: This guide and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. The information presented in this guide should not be construed to be formal legal advice. If you need legal advice, you may contact a licensed attorney.

Filing F-1 OPT EAD Application with USCIS: Every day there are thousands of applicants who are filing some type of immigration form to USCIS for the sake of claiming some type of US immigration benefit.

The challenge some of these applicants might have, especially when you’re a first time applicant is not known and what type of response that you’re going to get from USCIS, after submitting your immigration case.

In this article we will learn the different types of responses that you can expect from USCIS when tracking the status of your immigration case.

Filing F-1 OPT EAD Application with USCIS

Your immigration journey with USCIS begins at the moment you mail your application to USCIS. It’s usually recommend that when you mail your application to USCIS, you should request tracking information.

The reason you want to do this might be quite obvious because you want to monitor the status of the application. But it’s also very important to do this because in certain circumstances you might want your application to get to USCIS before a particular deadline.

A common scenario here tends to be the case of F1 students in the U.S who are applying for optional practical training with USCIS. Now, once you confirm the delivery of your immigration application to USCIS, it’s best that you save this confirmation of delivery in your records.

The reason why this is important is that just in case USCIS says that they did not receive the application, you can have an evidence to show that your application was submitted to USCIS.

In most cases, when you receive a confirmation of delivery from your mailing service provider, saying that your meal was received by USCIS, it’s more than likely that USCIS would have actually received the application.

It is quite rare to have circumstances where USCIS could lose your application after your mailing service provider has provided a confirmation of delivery of your application.

So it is safe to say that once you’ve received the confirmation of delivery from your million service provider, your waiting game with USCIS officially begins.

Form I-797 receipt notice

The very first response you’re likely to get from USA is a confirmation letter stating that your application for a particular immigration benefit was received. Now, this confirmation letter from USCIS is formally called a Form I-797 receipt notice, and it’s usually delivered by USPS regular mail.

When you get this receipt notice, the most important section of this notice is a receipt number that you can find on the top left corner of the form.

You are going to be using this receipt number moving forward to track the status of your immigration application with USCIS on the USCIS case status online, too.

On this receipt notice, you’re also going to find two important dates:

• The first date is the notice date, which is essentially the day USCIS generated this letter to be mailed to you, and the second date is the received date, which is the day USCIS confirmed the receipt of your application.

Under normal circumstances, where USCIS might have a fairly typical processing time, it might take about four weeks for you to receive this receipt notice.

However, when USCIS has a severe backlog, it might take anywhere between six to twelve weeks to receive your receipt notice.

As a first time filer, your mileage might vary. For example, you might have someone who submitted the exact same immigration petition to USCIS that you’re submitting, and it takes them about four weeks to get a receipt notice while you have to wait longer than eight weeks to get your receipt notice.

Once you’ve got your receipt notice and you’ve found your receipt number, you can now start tracking the status of your immigration case using the USCIS website.

If you want to learn how to do that, checkout the post below that walks you through four best ways of tracking the status of your immigration case with USCIS.

Different types of USCIS immigration case updates you can expect after filing your F-1 OPT EAD application

Let’s go over the different types of case updates you might get when tracking the status of your immigration case with USCIS.

Once you’ve got your receipt number, if you enter this number into the USCIS case status quo, you’re going to see a case update that says “case was received.”

This is usually the first case updates on your immigration case. Now, one of the hang ups of the USCIS case status, too, that frustrates a lot of applicants is that the tool does not give you specific details on your immigration case, so it’s quite common to have a case update that says “your case was received” for several weeks until your immigration case is either approved or your immigration case is rejected or denied.

So if you keep checking the status of your immigration case on this tool, don’t be surprised to keep on seeing the update, “Case was received” for several weeks up until your application is approved or rejected.

Another case update you might get in this time period is the case update that says that your “case was transferred and the new office has jurisdiction.”

If you happen to get this case update, it simply means that USCIS has moved the application to another USCIS office simply because of a processing time issue. If this is the case, USCIS is also going to send you a letter in the mail explaining what new location your immigration application has been sent to and what you can expect to do if you have any further questions.

So from this point on, you’re only going to get the case update on the USCIS website if your application is either approved, rejected, denied, or if you receive a notice explaining that you need to provide further documents for your immigration application to be processed.

Using the example of someone who’s filed a Form I-765 for the Employment Authorization documents with USCIS. So if you file your form I-765 and you’ve checked your case status and it says that your case was received, the next steps you might get will be either if your case is rejected, denied, or approved.

Approved I-765

Let’s take the straightforward path that your application for your I-765 was approved. Well, what you can expect when you check your case status is that it’s obviously going to display that your case was approved, and within a few days you’re going to see another case update saying that a new card is being produced.

Once your case has been approved, you’re going to expect to receive another form I-797. Well, this time it’s going to be an approval notice explaining that your application for your employment authorization document (EAD) card was approved.

Unless it’s otherwise stated, this approval notice does not confer any immigration benefit to you.

So you would have to wait until you’ve received your employment authorization document card before you could begin working.

Card was delivered to me by the post office

Within a few days of USCIS producing your EAD card, you’re going to see a case update on the USCIS website saying that the card was mailed to you. And once this EAD card has been delivered to you, the case update is going to change to “the card was delivered to me by the post office.”

USCIS usually sends out EAD cards by USPS regular mail, so you should check your mailbox for your EAD card and also make sure to inspect this card closely, making sure that your biographical information, such as the spelling of your name and your date of birth, is correct on the card.

In the unfortunate circumstance that your application doesn’t go as smoothly from case was received to case was approved.

Some other types of case updates you might expect on the USCIS website or case updates like a request for additional evidence was mailed. Now, this is usually called an RFE

Once you respond to the request for evidence and USCIS receives a response, your case updates is going to change to response to USCIS request for evidence was received, and this is quite similar to the initial case updates that your case was received in the sense that you might have to wait for several weeks to receive another response from USCIS, which could be that your case was approved, rejected, or further evidence is needed.

Another case update you might get is an update that says that a notice explaining USCIS actions was mailed. Just like the case of the RFE, if you receive a case update like this, USCIS is going to send you a letter in the mail explaining the problems with your application, and will tell you what documents you need to provide so that your application will be processed.

A possible case update you could see on the USCIS website is the case update saying that your application was rejected.

This could be caused for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes it could be that you provided an application on a form that already expired, or sometimes it could be that you did not pay the right application fee.

For whatever the reason is in your rejection, USCIS is going to be providing a letter explaining the reasons why your application was rejected.

Learn how to apply and get CPT (Curricular Practical Training) as an F1 visa international student, as well as the best tips to get a CPT internship or a multi-semester co-op job opportunity.

What is CPT?

CPT (Curricular Practical Training) is considered as an employment that is INTEGRAL to an F1 student’s academic program of study. The CPT must provide training or work experience that is needed to complete your degree otherwise it must be a work experience that you could earn academic course credit for.

It is expected that the CPT should not prolong the time to completion of the F1 visa students degree program. Some examples of CPT are internships and multi-semester coops, both of which could be paid or unpaid and done off-campus at an employer’s location or while working remotely at another location.

Benefits of CPT

CPT is a great way to get work experience in your field of study prior to graduation and is also a great opportunity to build and grow your professional network outside of your university. Like you might have heard, sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know.

Eligibility for CPT

To be eligible for CPT you must have been enrolled full time for at least 2 long semesters in an active F1 status. The only exception here are students who have programs that require an immediate participation in CPT within the first year of study.

You must also have a job offer that is directly related to your major. If the CPT is not required to graduate, you must earn course credit during the semester that the internship is held with slight exceptions depending on your university. Let look at How to apply for CPT.

How to Apply for CPT

Generally applying for CPT is a 2 step process:

• In the first step you will need to obtain the approval of your academic advisor.  This requires you to provide an employment offer letter from a US employer describing the nature of your work. Your academic advisor will then determine if this work is related to your field of study and would provide a written notice of approval.
• With this approval, you can then complete the second step, where your designated school official (DSO) would provide an I-20 endorsed for CPT. This endorsed I-20 is your legal employment authorization to work temporarily in the US with the specified CPT employer.

Limitations of CPT

There are two ways you can use CPT, these are part-time and full time. Part time CPT is defined as 20 hours or less per week while full-time CPT is defined as more than 20 hours per week.

Note that if you complete 12 months of full time CPT, you become ineligible for OPT. On the other hand, part-time CPT is not capped, so once you meet the eligibility requirements for CPT, you can work part time for several months.

Furthermore with CPT, any changes in your employment requires a new CPT authorization and must be reported to avoid violating your status. You are also required to pass the course for your CPT authorization, otherwise you will be violating your status.

Best Tips to Get CPT Jobs

1. Start researching your industry early on
2. Don’t rely solely on online job applications
3. Where possible, accept unpaid internship jobs if you can’t get a paid internship.

In Summary

Curricular Practical Training (CPT) status allows international students with a F-1 student visa to gain work experience through employment training and paid internship programs directly related to your major area of study.

Disclaimer: This site is not owned by any U.S Government Agency or an Immigration attorney. The contents in the site/post is for informational purpose only, collected from various public domains. You may need to contact an Immigration Attorney for your specific immigration needs.

I hope this article has been helpful to you.