What is Form I-983: Guide to STEM OPT Training Plan

Form I-983 is a written agreement between an F-1 international student and their employer that explains, in detail, how a job will provide real, structured training tied to the student's degree. DHS uses the form i-983 to confirm that a STEM Optional Practical Training position is genuine learning and not just a paycheck or, in the worst cases, a fake job arrangement.

It helps to put the form in context. After graduation, F-1 students can usually work for up to 12 months on standard OPT. Students who earned a qualifying degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics can apply for an extra 24 months, which is the STEM OPT extension. That extra two years is what brings the i 983 form into play. Standard OPT does not require it. The STEM extension does.

The core idea behind the form is simple. DHS wants to see that:

• The work is directly related to your specific STEM degree.
• You have clear, measurable learning objectives.
• Your employer has the people and resources to actually train and supervise you.
• You are being paid fairly compared to similar U.S. workers, and you are not displacing one.

If those four things are true and the plan is documented properly, you have a compliant i-983 form.

Quick Summary

If you only have two minutes, here is everything the i-983 form comes down to:

• What it is: Form I-983, officially titled "Training Plan for STEM OPT Students," is a Department of Homeland Security document that maps out the training a STEM OPT student will receive from their employer.
• What the i 983 form is used for: It is the required training plan you and your employer must complete and sign before you can get a STEM OPT extension I-20 from your school. No valid I-983, no STEM extension.
• Who fills it out: The student completes the personal sections, the employer completes the company and certification sections, and both sign the training plan together. Your DSO fills in the school contact details.
• Where it goes: To your DSO, not to USCIS. The i-983 form is never mailed with your Form I-765 work permit application. This is the single most common point of confusion.
• Why it matters more in 2026: Following the May 2026 ICE announcement that more than 10,000 students were flagged in connection with suspect employers, a well-documented, truthful I-983 has shifted from paperwork to your first line of defense in an audit or site visit.

What is I 983 Form Used For?

This is the question students search most, so let us answer it plainly. The i 983 form is used to document and certify your STEM OPT training plan so your school can recommend the 24-month extension in SEVIS. Everything flows from that single purpose.

In practice, the form does five jobs at once:

1. Authorizes the process: Your DSO cannot create your STEM OPT extension I-20 until a completed, signed I-983 is on file.
2. Defines the training: It forces you and your employer to spell out goals, skills, supervision, and evaluation methods rather than leaving them vague.
3. Binds the employer to commitments: By signing, the employer promises to follow the plan, maintain a real employer-employee relationship, and report material changes.
4. Creates a compliance record: The form is what DHS or ICE reviews during an audit or worksite visit to confirm the job is legitimate.
5. Tracks your progress: Built-in self-evaluations at the 12-month and 24-month marks show that learning is actually happening.

Who Completes Which Part of the I-983 Form

One reason the form i-983 trips people up is that it is a shared document. Different people own different sections, and a missing signature anywhere means an automatic rejection by your DSO.

A few notes that the official instructions stress but students often miss:

• The DSO contact details are usually left blank for the school to complete. Confirm this with your advisor, since some schools want you to leave it empty and others want general details typed in.
• A staffing or temporary agency cannot sign the I-983. Only the E-Verify employer that provides the actual training can complete and sign it. This rule alone disqualifies a lot of consulting arrangements.
• A student cannot sign as their own employer, even when working for their own startup. Someone else at the company with signatory authority must sign.

Where to Get Current I-983 Form?

Download the i-983 form fresh from an official source rather than reusing an old PDF or a random template site. The current version is the 7/16 edition, a five-page document carrying OMB control number 1653-0054.

The two authoritative sources are:

• The DHS Study in the States STEM OPT Hub, which hosts the form and its instructions.
• The ICE SEVIS document library, which posts the fillable PDF directly.

Older copies of a 1/16 seven-page edition still circulate on third-party sites. Submitting an outdated form can cause delays, so your school's international office will almost always link you to the version they accept. When in doubt, use the copy your DSO provides.

Employer Requirements That Make or Break the I-983

The student side of the form is usually the easy part. The employer requirements are where eligibility actually gets decided. For the form i 983 to be valid, the employer must meet every one of these conditions:

• E-Verify enrollment. The employer must be enrolled and in good standing in E-Verify and must list its E-Verify Company ID on the form. There is no workaround. A company that is not in E-Verify cannot host a STEM OPT student, full stop.
• A bona fide employer-employee relationship. You cannot be an "employee in name only," a volunteer, or working for a company that exists only on paper. The entity that signs the I-983 must be the same one that trains you.
• Commensurate terms. Your duties, hours, and pay must match those of similar U.S. workers at the company. A salary far below market is a red flag. If the employer has fewer than two similar U.S. workers, it must affirm on the form that your terms are comparable to other similarly situated workers in the area.
• At least 20 hours per week. STEM OPT requires a minimum of 20 paid hours per week per employer. Unpaid internships, volunteer work, and unpaid research do not qualify.
• No displacement of U.S. workers. The employer must attest that you are not replacing a full-time or part-time U.S. worker.

The Big Confusion: The I-983 Does Not Go to USCIS

When you apply for STEM OPT, you file Form I-765 (the work permit application) with USCIS. The I-983 is a separate document that stays with your DSO. You do not mail it to USCIS, and you do not upload it to your I-765 packet.

Here is the clean comparison:

So the real sequence is: complete the I-983 with your employer, submit it to your DSO, receive your STEM OPT I-20, and then file Form I-765 with USCIS. DHS may later request the I-983 during a Request for Evidence or a site visit, but it is not part of your initial USCIS filing.

Evaluations and the Reporting Timeline

The i-983 form is not "done" once it is signed. STEM OPT comes with ongoing reporting, and the form includes evaluation pages you must complete on a schedule. Missing these can put your status at risk.

Many schools fold the evaluations into their 6, 12, 18, and 24-month validation reporting, so even if nothing has changed you typically have to confirm your address and employment regularly. Mark these dates on your calendar the day you start. They sneak up on people.

Material Changes and the Modified I-983

If important details change during your STEM OPT period, you generally need to submit a modified form i-983 to your DSO at the earliest opportunity. DHS treats the following as material changes:

• A change in the employer's EIN due to a merger, restructuring, or change of ownership.
• A reduction in your pay that is not tied to fewer hours.
• A significant drop in weekly hours, especially below the 20-hour minimum.
• A change in your job duties or your stated learning objectives.
• Changing employers, which requires a brand-new I-983 for the new company.

If you leave a job, the employer must report your departure to the DSO within five business days. Keeping a current, signed copy of your I-983 at your worksite is a smart habit, since it is exactly what an inspector would ask to see.

Why the I-983 Matters More in 2026 Than It Used To

This is the part most older guides have not caught up on, and it is the most important shift for anyone filing this year.

STEM OPT has grown fast. According to ICE's 2024 SEVIS by the Numbers report, 95,384 students received STEM OPT authorization in 2024, a 54 percent jump from the year before, on top of 194,554 standard OPT approvals. India and China together make up nearly half of all international student records, and a large share of OPT participants come from these two countries. The top STEM OPT employers in recent reporting were major technology firms like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta.

That growth has drawn intense government scrutiny. On May 12, 2026, ICE announced a nationwide crackdown on OPT fraud, stating that investigators had identified more than 10,000 students linked to "highly suspect employers," a figure officials said came from only the top 25 OPT employers and was just "the tip of the iceberg." Homeland Security Investigations conducted worksite visits across eight states, including Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Florida.

A defining feature of this enforcement wave is the targeting of fake consultancies that pose as E-Verify-compliant employers and submit sham I-983 training plans with falsified hours, wages, and supervision details. Reporting through early 2026 also pointed to expanded social media vetting and a measurable rise in flagged anomalies and visa revocations.

What does this mean for an honest student? Two things:

1. Accuracy is everything: Vague, copied, or inflated answers on your i 983 form now carry real risk. Forging a signature or misstating facts on the form is a federal crime that can damage your STEM OPT, future H1B, and green card prospects.
2. Your I-983 is your defense: If your employer is real, your training is genuine, and your form is specific and truthful, a site visit becomes a non-event. The students most exposed are those who trusted shell-company "consultancies" that never provided real training.

There is also a policy backdrop worth watching. Bills and proposed DHS rules circulating in 2025 and 2026 have floated tighter limits on OPT, including ideas like shorter authorization windows and added screening. As of mid-2026, OPT and the STEM extension remained intact under existing rules, but the environment is more political and more closely policed than it was even a year ago. File on time, keep your degree-to-job link obvious, and treat scrutiny as the new normal.

Common Mistakes That Get an I-983 Rejected

Pulling together what international offices flag and what students report online, these are the errors that most often send an i-983 form back:

• Vague job descriptions: "Software development" is too thin. Write something specific, such as building machine learning models in Python and TensorFlow for natural language processing tasks, and tie it explicitly to your degree.
• Missing the E-Verify Company ID: Without it, your DSO cannot process the form. Get it from your employer's HR team early.
• Typed signatures: A name typed in a cursive-style font is not accepted. Use wet ink or a verified e-signature tool like Adobe Sign or DocuSign that leaves a verification mark.
• Missing signatures or sections: Every required section must be complete and signed. One gap equals a rejection.
• Below-market pay: Compensation that is clearly under the going rate raises a displacement and bona fide flag.
• A staffing agency signing: Only the actual training employer can sign, not a placement or temp agency.
• Wrong worksite address: The site address is reported in SEVIS and must be where you physically work. If you work remotely, list your remote location and note the remote arrangement on the form.
• Using an outdated edition: Stick to the current 7/16 form your school provides.

Real Questions Students Keep Asking

These come straight from the kinds of threads that fill student forums and advising inboxes.

"My employer doesn't want to sign the I-983. What do I can do?" 

Many employers, especially smaller ones, are simply unfamiliar with the form. Section 4 spells out what the employer is certifying, and most HR teams sign once they understand it is a standard, free, well-defined process. If a company flatly refuses, that is a serious signal about whether the job qualifies at all, since a real STEM OPT employer has to be willing to make these commitments.

"Can I do STEM OPT at a startup or my own company?" 

Yes, you can work at a startup, but the startup must be enrolled in E-Verify, must be a bona fide business, and someone other than you must sign the employer sections. You cannot be your own signatory.

"I work through a consulting or staffing firm. Can they fill out the form?" 

No. Per DHS guidance, the staffing or placement agency cannot complete or sign the I-983. Only the E-Verify employer that actually provides your day-to-day training can. This is the exact arrangement getting the most enforcement attention in 2026, so be careful.

"Is remote work allowed?" 

Remote and hybrid work can be acceptable, but the form must accurately reflect where you physically work and must show genuine supervision. List your remote location and indicate the remote arrangement in the appropriate section.

"Does the I-983 get mailed with my I-765?" 

No. It stays with your DSO. See the comparison table above.

Stats Snapshot

A quick data picture of the world the form i 983 lives in:

• 95,384 students received STEM OPT in 2024, up 54 percent year over year (ICE 2024 SEVIS by the Numbers).
• 194,554 students received standard OPT, and 130,586 received CPT in the same year.
• Active F-1 and M-1 records hit 1,582,808 in 2024, a 5.3 percent increase.
• International students contributed roughly $43 to $55 billion to the U.S. economy depending on the source and methodology, and supported hundreds of thousands of jobs.
• On May 12, 2026, ICE flagged 10,000+ students connected to suspect employers and conducted site visits in 8 states.

Final Pre-Submission Checklist

Before you hand the i 983 form to your DSO, confirm:

• You are using the current 7/16 edition from an official source.
• Your name and degree match your I-20 exactly.
• The employer listed its E-Verify Company ID.
• Hours are 20 per week or more, and pay is commensurate.
• The training plan is specific and clearly tied to your STEM degree.
• Every required section is complete.
• All signatures are wet ink or verified e-signatures, not typed names.
• The worksite address is where you actually work.
• You have calendared your 12-month and 24-month evaluations.
• You kept a copy for your worksite records.

FAQs

Is Form I-983 the same as the EAD application? 

No. The EAD comes from Form I-765, filed with USCIS. The I-983 is the training plan, filed with your school.

How much does the I-983 cost? 

Nothing. It is free to download and submit. Only the I-765 carries a USCIS fee.

Can I sign electronically? 

Yes, with a verified electronic signature that carries a verification mark, or a scanned wet signature. A plain typed name is not acceptable.

How long is the I-983 valid? 

It governs the training plan for the period it covers, effective from the STEM OPT start date you list. If material details change, you file a modified one.

Do I need a new I-983 if I change jobs? 

Yes. Each new employer requires a fresh I-983 and an updated STEM OPT I-20.

Where do I keep my copy? 

Keep a completed, signed copy at your worksite. It is the document DHS asks for during a site visit.