Curricular Practical Training

Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is temporary employment authorization for F-1 visa non-immigrant foreign students in the United States while enrolled in a college-level degree program.

CPT permission is granted through the institution's International Students Office or equivalent upon approval of advisor, pursuant to regulations established by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

CPT Eligibility Criteria and Important instructions

One must have stayed in US for at least 9 months in order to be eligible for CPT. CPT must be done before graduation. It can be done during vacation. It can either be a full-time or part-time. The Students will be eligible for CPT even in case of reduced course load. If you have 12 months or more of full-time CPT (visit Practical Training for more detail), you are ineligible for OPT, but part-time CPT is fine and will not stop you from doing OPT. If you are doing MBA, you may not work for more than 9 months in order to be eligible for 11 months of OPT. CPT is like an academic course. One may get an exemption for one course if they take up CPT. The CPT course fee has to be paid before the start date of CPT program and the applications for summer may not be processed after every July 1 in some schools and this varies between universities. If one still wish to work after summer break, that will be considered as a different application and may need permissions from their concerned departments. The Students who took thesis may not be eligible to apply for CPT if they are done with their course work.