During Your Academic Program and Pre-Completion OPT
F-1 students are required to be registered in courses at SDSU during their program of study (within program dates on the I-20). Courses through the SDSU Global Campus do not qualify as courses at SDSU (except for several courses in the graduate Computer Science programs), so F-1 students cannot maintain their immigration status by taking courses through Global Campus alone.
The only exception is for graduate students who have comprehensive exams or thesis remaining. These students might be able to maintain their F-1 status and program by registering through CES in 799B (thesis extension) or 799C (comprehensive exams). Please
consult an ISC advisor to determine if this is an option for you.
Students registered in 799C through Global Campus might also be able to take other courses through Global Campus (ex. replacement courses for comp exams) at the same time. This maintains their F-1 status and academic program. It is not possible to do this while on Post-completion OPT, only during Pre-completion OPT. Please
consult an ISC advisor to determine if this is an option for you.
During their program, while registered in coursework at SDSU, students can apply for Pre-completion OPT. They can choose when this Pre-completion OPT starts and ends (at the time of application) but it cannot exceed 12 full-time months and it cannot extend beyond their graduation. It can be full-time during vacation periods but it cannot exceed part-time (20 hours/week) during the academic year.
If a student has completed all coursework except for thesis or comprehensive exams and does not plan to replace comprehensive exams with a course, it is recommended to apply for Post-completion OPT.
During Post-Completion OPT
Students may work on Post-completion OPT after they have finished all regular coursework for their degree. Students can finish their thesis or comprehensive exams while on OPT. For assistance in determining when to apply for Post-completion OPT, please consult an ISC advisor.
Currently, graduate students on Post-completion OPT can be registered in 799B or 799C at Global Campus but do not have to be registered in any courses (either at SDSU or Global Campus) for immigration purposes. A student in this situation must register in 799B or 799C for academic purposes so that, by SDSU policies, they can graduate at the end of the semester.
Students on Post-completion OPT are not allowed to take courses at SDSU or Global Campus other than 799A, 799B, or 799C.
Courses Replacing Comprehensive Exams
Graduate students that wish to take courses instead of comprehensive exams (ex. Computer Science) cannot be on Post-completion OPT since they are not allowed to take substantive courses during Post-completion OPT.
In addition, taking the comprehensive exam replacement course through Global Campus alone does not maintain their F-1 status and academic program. They would have to either take the course through SDSU or take the course through Global Campus and be registered in 799C at the same time.
Students in this position can maintain their program (on I-20) and are eligible to apply for Pre-completion OPT if they wish.