What to do when your EAD card says the wrong OPT start date

Whether you applied for the OPT (Optional Practical Training) program or STEM OPT program, international students can start working through the OPT program only when they have EAD (Employment Authorization Document) cards on hand.

In other words, F-1 students cannot work even after the OPT start date if they haven’t received the EAD cards.

Also, 90 unemployment days for OPT students and 150 unemployment days for STEM OPT students start ticking from the “USCIS approved OPT start date” which will be printed/ can be found on the EAD card.

This means that if your EAD card says the wrong OPT start date, it’s highly likely that your SEVIS record has the wrong OPT start date as well and it could have negative impacts down the road.

Related blog post: How to update the SEVP portal & OPT unemployment counter

Therefore, we will look into what to do when your EAD card says the wrong OPT start date. Any student who found typos on their I-797 (OPT receipt) and EAD card not because of their faults but because of USCIS’s clerical error can follow the process to fix the issue.

If you are not familiar with I-797, click the following related blog post.

Related blog post: All about EAD card; EAD address change, late delivery

Disclaimer: SEVIS SAVVY delivers information based on the visa/immigration regulations and this is no legal advice by any means. Since institutional policies may vary, getting confirmation from your international student advisor will be helpful to ensure that you comply with institutional policies and processes.

Contents

• Case study scenario
• USCIS guideline based answers

Case study scenario

Q: I graduated in December 2021 and I applied for OPT. My desired OPT start date (DSO recommended start date in SEVIS) is 01/01/2022 but it turns out USCIS noted 01/01/2021 as my OPT start date. This caused a problem because my OPT portal says that I have been accrued about 200 unemployment days.

I know USCIS can terminate my SEVIS record as I accrued more than 90 unemployment days. What should I do?

Related blog post: How to update the SEVP portal & OPT unemployment counter

USCIS guideline-based answers

There are two ways you can correct the typo on your EAD card. The real case scenario can be found on the OPT forum topic titled “Took 8 months to correct USCIS typo on EAD.”

1. Mail all the documents to USCIS without completing the e-request form

First, prepare all the documents that USCIS requires and send them to the I-765 filing location. According to the Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, OPT applicants who received an EAD card with a typo due to USCIS’s error should send the following documents:

• A letter explaining the error; students are encouraged to include the following information in their letters
  • Date and signature
  • USCIS Service Center or National Benefits Center that you are going to send the documents to
  • Full name as on I-20
  • Date of birth
  • SEVIS ID number
  • I-797 Receipt number
• A piece of evidence that shows the correct information
  • In most cases, OPT-recommended I-20 can serve as an evidence
• The original EAD card

Students, then, should ship out these documents to the Service Center or National Benefits Center which can be found on their I-797 OPT receipt that approved their Form I-765.

The Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization webpage also lays out all the filing locations for all categories of the I-765 application. When you scroll down, you will see “Replacement for Card Error” where you can check the mailing address.

Submit a letter explaining the error and evidence to show what the correct information should be, along with the card containing the error, to the service center or National Benefits Center that approved your most recent Form I-765. Your I-765 approval notice will indicate which location approved your application.

Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization

2. Complete the USCIS e-request form

If you are not sure where to send the documents, you can complete the USCIS e-request form and wait for a reply.

Please note that the e-form is for students who find errors within 10 days from the date they received the EAD. If the student finds the error after 10 days, filing an e-form might not be sufficient. To learn more, go to the OPT forum topic titled “Took 8 months to correct USCIS typo on EAD.”

USCIS’s webpage named Typographic Error lets you complete the electronic form and describe a typographic error. To complete this e-request form, you need the following information:

• (I-797) Receipt number
• Mailing address for the new EAD card
• The correct information (in this case, it will be DSO recommended start date, which you can obtain by reaching out to your Designated School Officials or International Student Advisor)

Once you complete the form, USCIS will get back to you with the mailing address to send the following documents:

• The original EAD card
• Supporting documents

However, the caveat for this process is that it can take several months to hear back from USCIS. If you have enough time to wait for the reply and the new EAD card, you may want to complete the e-request form because you can get the exact mailing address to ship out the original EAD card and supporting documents.

Of course, you can do both- completing the E-request form and sending all the documents to the USCIS filing location that is written on your I-797 (OPT receipt). If you choose to do so, make sure you include the e-request confirmation number on your letter for USCIS’s information.

If USCIS gets back to you with a different mailing address than what you had sent all the documents, you can reply back to the email address with the filing location where you sent all the documents.

Once you receive the correct EAD card

When USCIS sends you the correct EAD card, finally it’s time to fix your SEVIS record. First, you can reach out to the SEVIS Help Desk at 1-800-892-4829. You can provide your SEVIS ID number which can be found on your Form I-20 and explain that you have received a new EAD card with the correct information.

Then, it’s highly likely that they will ask you for the evidence. After a phone call, they will send you the email with the ticket (case) number and you can reply back and attach a scanned copy of the front and back of your EAD card.

Once they confirm the document, your SEVIS record will be fixed to reflect the correct information- in this case scenario, you will have the correct OPT start date on your SEVIS record.

Hope this helps OPT and/or STEM OPT applicants who received EAD cards with the wrong OPT start date or any typos due to USCIS’s error. All OPT and STEM OPT-related case studies can be found on OPT and STEM OPT pages.