How to update the SEVP portal & OPT unemployment counter

Timely and correct OPT/ STEM OPT reporting through the SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) portal is a crucial part of OPT/ STEM OPT participation. Not to mention that providing false employment information could result in arrest and F-1 visa revocation, information in the portal is what the OPT/ STEM OPT unemployment clock refers to calculate remaining unemployment days.

Related blog post 1: 15 students are arrested; OPT reporting requirement
Related blog post 2: Important STEM OPT reporting requirements

However, some students can’t update the SEVP portal because they didn’t receive the account activation email from the SEVP portal. In this case, it is important for students to understand their options to activate their accounts and update the portal to maintain their status valid.

In this blog post, the following questions will be answered for OPT and STEM OPT students:

• How can I access the SEVP portal?
• What should I do if I haven’t received the account activation email but my OPT/ STEM OPT start date has passed/ is near?
• How can I update the SEVP portal?
• How can I check the unemployment days?

All other OPT information that international students must know can be found on OPT page. If you are planning to apply for the STEM OPT, click the STEM OPT page to check out all the important regulations and information.

Contents

• I haven’t received the account activation email from SEVP portal, what should I do?
• How to update the SEVP portal
• How to check OPT unemployment counter

I haven’t received the account activation email from SEVP portal, what should I do?

According to the “Create a SEVP Portal account” webpage by StudyintheStates, OPT students will receive an email from do-not-reply.SEVP@ice.dhs.gov on the OPT/ STEM OPT start date (when “the OPT start date is not in the future”). Specifically, the webpage well outlines how the email looks like and how students can access the portal:

The subject line of the email will be Optional Practical Training Approval – the next step. Create an SEVP Portal account. The only way to get to the portal registration page is to use the link in this email.

Create a SEVP Portal account

So, what if your OPT/STEM OPT has been approved, your SEVIS record has an email address and your OPT start date is here but you haven’t received the email to access the portal? Based on the StudyintheStates guidelines and my advising experiences, the following three actions can be advised:

• Double check the email address in the SEVIS record
  • Some students have the outdated email addresses in SEVIS and they only check their new email inboxes. If you are not sure what email inbox to look at, reach out to your DSO to make sure the email address that you use frequently is noted in your SEVIS record.
• Check the spam or junk mail inboxes
  • Sometimes the email goes to your spam or junk mail folder. Therefore it is a good practice to look at both folders.
• Students who had participated in OPT before
  • If this is your second time participating the OPT (for example, you took the OPT opportunity after you obtained the bachelor’s degree and now you applied for the OPT with the master’s degree), you can log in with the same login credentials that you created before. If you forgot the password, you can try to reset the password. If you fail to reset the password, you will need to call the SEVP Help Desk (1-800-892-4829).

When you can’t find the mail from SEVP even after you checked the right email address and all of the inboxes, you can reach out to your DSO. What DSO can do for you is that DSO can click the “reset password” button in SEVIS which triggers the portal to send a new account activation email to the student.

There are times though when this “reset password” doesn’t seem to solve the issue. In this case, DSO or the student can reach out to the SEVP Help Desk at 1-800-892-4829. Depending on the scenario, the SEVP Help Desk would open the new case and ask you (or DSO) to submit a copy of the front and back of your EAD card as proof.

In the meantime, students are highly encouraged to provide the employer information to DSO so that they can update your portal on their behalf.

How to update the SEVP portal

Once you log in to the portal, you can click “Add Employer” to add new employers. Please note that STEM OPT participants won’t be able to add new employers by themselves. What STEM OPT students need to do instead is that they should send the Training Form I-983 to the DSO. Upon review and approval, DSOs will add the employer information to the STEM OPT student’s SEVIS record and students can edit the information from there.

Related blog post: STEM OPT I-983 Training Plan 30 sample answers

If your OPT application has been approved, you need to update the following information in the SEVP portal:

• Relation to Field of Study: Explain how employment is related to student’s course of study
• Employer Name
• Employer Address
• Job title
• Start date
• Full/ Part time: Students can choose using the drop down list.

There are more fields for students whose STEM OPT petition has been approved to enter in the SEVP portal:

• Relation to Field of Study: Explain how employment is related to student’s course of study
• Employer Identification Number (EIN)
• Employer Name
• Employer Address
• Job Title
• Supervisor First Name
• Supervisor Last Name
• Supervisor Phone Number
• Supervisor Email Address
• Full/ Part time: Students can choose using the drop down list.
• Employment Start Date

It is worth noting that when you transfer to a different company, you should not “delete” the previous employer. Instead, you should add the “Employment End Date” for the previous employer and click “add employer” to add the new employer.

Users can only delete an employer if they never worked for the employer. To delete an employer, go to the Edit Employment page.

UPDATE EMPLOYER INFORMATION

How to check OPT unemployment counter

As I briefly mentioned above, the unemployment counter in the SEVP portal counts each day without the employer information from the USCIS Approved OPT Start date as unemployment days.

The Unemployment Counter page from StudyintheStates well summarized how to view accrued days of OPT unemployment. According to the page, “Go to the Student Information page. Select the Employment Information link under the View list on the left side of the page. The Employment Information page opens.” 

Then, as you can see below “click the green icon to expand the period of OPT and view the unemployment counter. The Accrued Days of Unemployment field for that period of OPT displays on the right.”

It is important for OPT and STEM OPT students to engage in employment opportunities before they accrue the maximum number of unemployment days. If they max out, the SEVIS would terminate the student’s SEVIS record and the student must leave the country.

Related blog post: 7 types of eligible F1 visa OPT works

To sum, this post had a look at how to access the SEVP portal and what to do if they haven’t received the account activation email although they met all the requirements as well as how to update the portal and check accrued unemployment days. I hope this helps OPT and STEM OPT students to maintain their status valid.