Visas
Curricular practical training, and the twelve-month trap
In short
Curricular practical training requires one full academic year of lawful full-time enrolment, except where a graduate programme requires training earlier, and the work must be integral to your major and directly related to it. Your school authorises it on the I-20, with no USCIS application. Twelve months or more of full-time CPT makes you ineligible for OPT at that level.
CPT is the mechanism behind most internships on an F-1 visa, and it is the one students are most often pushed into by programmes that advertise day-one CPT.
The eligibility rules are not complicated. The consequence of using it heavily is the part that gets skipped.
Who is eligible
You must have been lawfully enrolled full time for at least one full academic year, with an exception for graduate programmes that require immediate participation in training. English language training programmes are excluded.
The training must be an integral part of an established curriculum and directly related to your major. A job that merely pays well in a related industry is not what the rule describes.
Authorisation comes from your designated school official, recorded on the I-20. There is no USCIS form and no employment authorisation document, and you cannot start before the start date on the I-20.
Full time, part time, and the counter
More than 20 hours a week is full-time CPT; 20 or fewer is part time. During term you must still carry a full course of study.
Twelve months or more of full-time CPT removes your eligibility for post-completion OPT at that educational level. Part-time CPT does not count towards that total.
That is the arithmetic behind the warning about programmes built around continuous day-one CPT: a year of it can quietly cost you the twelve months of OPT you were counting on afterwards.
Judging a programme that advertises CPT
Ask three questions of any programme that leads with work authorisation. Is the training genuinely part of the curriculum, with academic credit and supervision? Would the programme still be worth the fee if the work component vanished? And what proportion of its graduates end up in roles related to the degree rather than to the visa?
Those are the same questions worth asking of any course, and our note on reading a programme page properly is the longer version. A programme marketed on immigration mechanics rather than on what it teaches is telling you what it is.
Related questions
Can I do CPT in my first semester?
Only if your graduate programme requires immediate participation in training. Otherwise the rule is one full academic year of lawful full-time enrolment first.
Does part-time CPT reduce my OPT?
No. Only full-time CPT counts towards the twelve-month total that removes OPT eligibility at that educational level.
Do I need an EAD card for CPT?
No. CPT is authorised by your designated school official on your I-20. The employment authorisation document applies to OPT, which is adjudicated by USCIS.