What it adds
On top of the 12 months of standard OPT, a qualifying STEM graduate can get 24 more months — three years of work authorization total — which is often what carries someone through an H-1B lottery cycle or two.
The obligations are real
The extension is tied to a Form I-983 training plan agreed with your employer, E-Verify enrollment, and strict reporting: address and job changes within 10 days, 6-month check-ins, annual evaluations, and a cap on unemployment time. The international office reviews your I-983 and issues the updated I-20 — start the process at least 90 days before your OPT ends.
In and around Porter Falls
For a campus this size Porter both sends and receives a steady stream of students internationally. The Global Education Office in Founders Union runs the advising, the risk review and the arrival and re-entry programming.
The practical details
Eligibility: A degree on the federal STEM designated list, current standard OPT, and an E-Verify employer who commits to a formal training plan. Apply: File the extension with USCIS before your initial OPT expires; you may keep working while it's pending, up to 180 days. Reporting: Every 6 months you confirm your details; you and your employer submit an annual self-evaluation of the training plan. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Global Education Office (Founders Union, Room 240). Call (715) 555–0220 or email global@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.