How to Fill Out Form I-983 for STEM OPT: A Section-by-Section Guide

Form I-983 has four sections, no USCIS filing fee, and never gets submitted directly to immigration — here is what belongs in each part.

Your employer has agreed to sponsor your 24-month STEM OPT extension, your DSO has confirmed you're eligible, and now there's a blank Form I-983 in front of you. Form I-983, officially the Training Plan for STEM OPT Students, asks for four things: your identity and program information, your employer's business and E-Verify details, a written training plan with measurable goals, and signatures from you, your employer, and your Designated School Official. It never gets filed with USCIS directly — your school keeps it on record, and it's what your DSO reviews before recommending your extension in SEVIS.

This guide walks through what actually belongs in each section, what trips people up, and what happens once the form is signed.

What Form I-983 actually is — and isn't

Form I-983 is not an immigration petition. It's a training plan and compliance record. You and your employer fill it out together, your DSO certifies it, and your school retains it in your file for the duration of your STEM OPT extension and beyond. If DHS ever wants to review your STEM OPT compliance, the school produces this document — it isn't something USCIS receives or adjudicates.

The form that actually goes to USCIS, with a filing fee attached, is Form I-765 — the Application for Employment Authorization. You file that separately, after your DSO has used your I-983 to recommend the extension and issue you a new Form I-20. If you haven't gone through that filing yet, our walkthrough of the I-765 OPT application covers what that step involves. Confusing the two forms is common: people assume submitting I-983 is the "application," when really it's the paperwork that makes the application possible.

What you need before you open the form

Gather these before you start, so you're not stopping mid-form to track them down:

• Your SEVIS ID and current Form I-20
• Confirmation of your qualifying STEM degree and its CIP code (the same code your DSO used to establish your eligibility — if you're unsure whether your specific major qualifies, check our guide to qualifying STEM OPT degrees before proceeding)
• Your employer's legal business name, address, and Employer Identification Number (EIN)
• Your employer's NAICS code and E-Verify Company Identification Number
• A clear job title, supervisor name and title, and a specific list of duties
• Your actual work location, if it differs from your employer's headquarters

Section 1 — Student information

This section confirms who you are and where you stand in your program: legal name as it appears on your immigration documents, SEVIS ID, school and program information, your qualifying STEM degree, and your current OPT dates. It's largely administrative, but accuracy matters — a name or SEVIS ID that doesn't match what's already in the system is the kind of small error that causes a DSO to bounce the form back to you before it goes any further.

Section 2 — Employer information

Section 2 identifies who's providing the training: legal business name, physical address, EIN, NAICS code, and the employer's E-Verify Company Identification Number. This is also where a third-party or client-site arrangement gets flagged. If you'll actually work at a client's location under a staffing or consulting arrangement, the form asks for that worksite's address and the name and title of whoever supervises your day-to-day work there — not just a contact at your employer's headquarters.

For the employer-side mechanics of what this section requires and how employers typically approach it, see what employers need to provide for the I-983 training plan.

Section 3 — Training program information

This is the substantive part of the form, and the one most likely to cause problems later if it's rushed. It generally breaks into four pieces:

1. Goals and objectives — three to five concrete training goals connected to your specific STEM field. Generic language like "contribute to team success" doesn't hold up; a goal like "develop and validate a data pipeline for [specific system]" does.
2. Position description — the actual tasks and skills involved, written so that the connection between your degree and the work is obvious to someone reviewing the file who has never met you.
3. Performance evaluation criteria — how and how often your progress against these goals will be formally assessed.
4. Compensation and supervision structure — how you're compensated relative to similarly situated employees doing comparable work, and who oversees the training.

The goals you write here become the standard your employer and DSO signed off on. If your actual work drifts far from what's described, that gap is a compliance issue, not just an administrative footnote. If you're not sure whether your day-to-day work still lines up with what's on paper, our guide on checking whether your I-983 training plan matches your real job walks through how to evaluate that honestly.

Section 4 — Certification and signatures

The signature order matters. You sign first, attesting the plan is accurate. Your employer's authorized official signs next — someone empowered to speak for the company's training obligations, typically a supervisor or HR representative, not just whoever happens to be available. Your DSO signs last, after reviewing the plan for completeness and plausibility. A DSO who has questions about whether the described duties genuinely relate to your degree can, and often will, send the form back before recommending the extension.

Form I-983 sections at a glance

What happens after your DSO signs

1. Your DSO recommends the STEM OPT extension in SEVIS and issues a new Form I-20 endorsed for the additional training period.
2. You file Form I-765 with USCIS using that new I-20 — this is the step with an actual filing fee and a USCIS receipt notice, separate from the I-983 itself.
3. USCIS processes the I-765. Processing times shift by service center and by season, so check USCIS's own processing times page for the current figure rather than relying on any number you've seen elsewhere, including older posts.
4. Once your extension is underway, you and your employer complete a self-evaluation using the same Form I-983, roughly at the midpoint of the extension and again near its end, confirming your training is still tracking to the original goals.
5. If your employer, worksite, supervisor, or core duties change materially, you complete a new Form I-983 with the updated information and report the change to your DSO. Our STEM OPT reporting requirements checklist covers exactly what counts as reportable and how the process works.

Common mistakes

• Writing Section 3 goals in vague HR language instead of specific, measurable training objectives tied to your degree.
• Letting the EIN or NAICS code drift from what's already in SEVIS — mismatches here are an easy, avoidable reason for a form to bounce.
• Describing duties that don't resemble the actual day-to-day job, which becomes a real compliance exposure once the gap widens.
• Having someone without real signing authority sign for the employer, rather than someone who can actually attest to the training arrangement.
• Assuming Form I-983 is "the application" and forgetting that Form I-765 still has to be filed with USCIS separately.
• Treating the mid-extension self-evaluation as optional paperwork rather than a required part of staying compliant.
• Waiting until after an employer or worksite change to update the plan, instead of handling the new Form I-983 and DSO report before continuing work under the new arrangement.

Frequently asked questions

What is Form I-983 used for? Form I-983, the Training Plan for STEM OPT Students, documents the structured training you will receive during the 24-month STEM OPT extension. It records your employer's business details, a written plan of goals and duties tied to your STEM degree, and signatures from you, your employer, and your DSO. Your DSO uses it to decide whether to recommend the extension in SEVIS.

Do I submit Form I-983 to USCIS? No. Form I-983 is completed by you and your employer, then reviewed and signed by your DSO, but it stays on file at your school rather than going to USCIS. The application that actually goes to USCIS is Form I-765, filed separately once your DSO has recommended the extension and issued you a new I-20. Your school must be able to produce the I-983 if DHS asks to see it, so keep your own copy too.

What happens if my actual job does not match my I-983 training plan? A real gap between what Section 3 describes and what you actually do at work is one of the more serious compliance risks in STEM OPT, because the training plan is what your employer and DSO certified as true. Small, natural evolution in duties is common, but a genuine mismatch usually calls for an updated Form I-983 rather than waiting it out. Talk to your DSO before the gap widens, and an immigration attorney if the change is significant.

Does my employer have to be enrolled in E-Verify to sign Form I-983? Yes. STEM OPT employers are required to be enrolled in E-Verify, and Section 2 of Form I-983 asks for the employer's E-Verify Company Identification Number. If your employer is not already enrolled, that has to be resolved before they can sign the form, so it is worth confirming early rather than discovering it late in the process.

What happens if I change employers during my STEM OPT extension? Changing employers during the 24-month extension generally means completing a new Form I-983 with the new employer's information and training plan, then reporting the change to your DSO. Your existing STEM OPT extension does not automatically end, but the reporting and paperwork obligations reset with the new employer. Confirm the exact reporting steps directly with your DSO, since getting this wrong risks your STEM OPT compliance record.

Filling out Form I-983 correctly is one piece of a much longer STEM OPT to H-1B runway, and the form itself won't tell you whether the job behind it is actually a good bet. If you want a second set of eyes on where you stand or where to go next, F1Jobs can help you think through it.