Curricular Practical Training – International Students

Curricular Practical Training is a U. S. federal program for international students with F-1 visas, designed to provide educational internship opportunities directly related to a student’s major field of study in the form of temporary employment in the U.S. In order to be eligible for CPT an ECE student must receive course credit for the employment. CPT may not be used as a bridge to full-time, regular employment. Texas Global’s policies and rules ensure that student interns fulfill the CPT requirements of the U.S. government, and as such are not flexible. Students and departments alike must comply with these policies and rules. Please note that international graduate students are not eligible to do “co-ops” and must apply for CPT authorization instead.

CPT: WHEN ARE YOU ELIGIBLE to BEGIN USING CURRICULAR PRACTICAL TRAINING, CPT?
• You may apply to use CPT after you have completed two long semesters of enrollment at UT-Austin  and are in valid F-1 status. Students who are transferring from another institution without a break in studies who have been enrolled for two long semesters before enrolling at UT may be eligible for immediate participation in CPT (not counting the summer before fall entry to UT-Austin).
• If students are ineligible for immediate participation in CPT, consistently ISSS has had to deny exceptions to the two-semester-wait rule because of the strict, non-negotiable federal CPT rules ISSS must follow. The lack of an ECE degree requirement to complete an internship prevents ECE 
graduate students from using the “degree requirement” exception to begin using CPT sooner. 
• A current student who takes a Leave of Absence in a long semester must enroll again for two long semesters before they can request CPT authorization. Summer does not count as a long semester.
• Please send an email to Texas Global (hotline@austin.utexas.edu) and cc Melanie (melanie.gulick@mail.utexas.edu) to request approval for an exception if you think you do in fact meet the qualifications.

CPT: Please start by thoroughly reviewing the information on the International Office’s website about Curricular Practical Training, CPT: https://global.utexas.edu/isss/immigration/f-1/employment/cpt

CPT: Next, carefully review all the information in this document. 

The steps for uploading the combined, multi-page ECE CPT document, prior to applying for CPT authorization via myIO

In the ECE CPT email that you can request from Melanie Gulick, ECE Graduate Coordinator, you will find 
attached the ECE Curricular Practical Training (CPT) form for F-1 students who have an internship offer, 
along with the internship start and end dates document, copied from the International Office’s CPT FAQ at the 
bottom of the webpage: https://global.utexas.edu/isss/immigration/f-1/employment/cpt

Pay particular attention to the information about the very strict start and end dates. Check first and last class days and the semester’s official graduation date on the current and future Academic Calendars here: https://registrar.utexas.edu/calendars 

An earlier start date for a summer internship that begins before the spring late-May graduation date may be possible; see below. Early start dates for fall or spring are not allowed. Please note that a summer internship must end before the first day that fall classes begin. If you are working as an intern in summer, your end date cannot extend beyond the summer graduation date (a date in mid-August; check the Academic Calendar on the Registrar’s webpage) unless you will continue your graduate studies by enrolling in the subsequent fall semester. If you work as an intern in summer and you want to “extend” your internship into the fall, even by one day, this is not an extension. You must instead apply for another period of CPT in fall and enroll in another EE x97M course in fall.

Remember, if you accumulate more than 12 months of full-time CPT you become ineligible for Optional Practical Training (OPT). However, the International Office recommends that you do not exceed 330 days of full-time CPT. Accumulating periods of part-time CPT from one semester to the next has no effect on OPT eligibility.

CPT: ENROLL in a COURSE with an INTERNSHIP COMPONENT for EACH PERIOD of CPT
• For each particular period of CPT, you are required to take a course, EE x97M, Graduate Research Internship, in fulfillment of the curriculum requirement of CPT: Curricular Practical Training. 

o The ECE CPT Form is critical as it is used to confirm you added the correct EE x97M course. 
o In addition, the professor who signs or approves your form is your EE x97M course instructor.
o The professor’s name is entered on the EE x97M Registrar’s roster as your course instructor.

• The EE x97M Graduate Research Internship course that ECE graduate students take to fulfill the curriculum requirement is offered for 1 hour, 2 hours or 3 hours: EE 197M, EE 297M, and EE 397M.
• The EE x97M is not a course that counts toward ECE master’s or PhD degree requirements. 
• You are charged for the EE x97M credit hours on your tuition bill in the semester you take the EE x97M course, and the hours of EE x97M count toward your total hours of enrollment for that semester. Choose the course that allows you to register full-time for 9 hours without having to pay for more than 9 hours.
• You may use the Dissertation, Thesis, or Report course as your internship course, but only if the work you are doing as an intern is required for your dissertation, master’s thesis or master’s report research, and only if your supervising professor can provide detailed information about how the work is required on the ECE CPT form. If these conditions are not met, you cannot use the Dissertation, Thesis, or Report course for CPT purposes. Usually students take an EE x97M course instead.
• The International Office allows summer interns to enroll in the required internship course in the subsequent fall semester. Almost all ECE international students who intern in summer defer enrolling in the course until fall.
• You do not need to enroll in summer while you work as an intern unless you choose to enroll in summer or if you are graduating in summer. If you are graduating in summer and also using CPT in summer, you must enroll in the approved internship course in summer and your internship must end by the summer graduation date in early-to-mid August. Check the Summer Academic Calendar here: https://registrar.utexas.edu/calendars. Again, if you intern in summer and you will enroll in the subsequent fall and do not enroll in EE x97M in summer, you must enroll in EE x97M in fall.
• Deferring enrollment in EE x97M is not allowed if you work as an intern in fall or spring. You have to 
take EE 197M or EE 297M or EE 397M concurrently during your fall or spring internship.

CPT: COMPLETE DEGREE REQUIREMENTS ON TIME, EVEN IF YOU DO INTERNSHIPS
• During the long semesters, you must focus on making academic progress by completing required coursework.
• A master’s-only student with an F-1 visa, in particular, should make every attempt to complete degree requirements before their I-20 expires, so do your best to plan your course registration accordingly.
• To finish your master’s degree on time, you could choose the report or thesis option instead of completing 10 approved classroom courses for the no-thesis/no-report option.
• For the report option, you must find a faculty supervisor (and a Reader in your final semester, usually a faculty member or research scientist) or find two co-supervisors, to guide you in your search for a suitable report topic and to guide you in your research work. You must complete 9 approved classroom courses, and take EE 398R, Report, in the semester you submit an approved written report and you have applied to earn the MSE degree.
• For the thesis option, you must find a supervising professor (and a Reader in your final semester, usually a faculty member or research scientist) or find two co-supervisors, to guide you in your search for a suitable thesis research topic and to guide you in your original research work. You must complete 8 approved classroom courses, and in separate semesters first take EE 698A, Thesis, and then take EE 698B, Thesis, in the semester you submit the approved written thesis and you have applied to earn the master’s degree. The EE 698A and EE 698B Thesis courses are each 3-credithour courses.
• A one-semester extension of the I-20 may be possible for master’s students. Please send me an email to ask questions about a possible one-semester extension.

CPT: WORKING as an INTERN in FALL or SPRING 
Students are charged the out-of-state tuition rate and students are charged for International Student Health Insurance Coverage
• If you intern in fall or spring, you must enroll full-time for 9 hours in fall or spring.
• You will be charged the out-of-state tuition rate. 
• You will be charged for international student health insurance, perhaps. Even if your company provides health insurance while you are working as an intern, the coverage may not meet the U.S 
Employer insurance waiver requirements including dates of coverage and deductible limits: 
https://global.utexas.edu/isss/insurance/students/waivers
• You must take the required EE x97M course concurrently in fall or spring; no deferments are allowed.
• If you are pursuing the master’s degree only, you should plan ahead so that can finish your master’s 
degree requirements and coursework within the time specified on your I-20, if possible. See above :COMPLETE DEGREE REQUIREMENTS ON TIME EVEN IF YOU DO INTERNSHIPS

CPT: SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES FOR CPT in FALL or SPRING
Enroll in one classroom course in fall or spring if you intern in Austin. 
• If you will work as an intern in Austin, TX in a fall or spring semester, you must make every effort to enroll concurrently in at least one degree-counting course if you have not finished coursework degree requirements. Otherwise, if you cannot enroll in a course, you may, for example, enroll for three EE 397M courses in that fall or spring semester if you have the approval of your advisor.
• If you work as an intern out-of-town or in another state in fall or spring, you may, for example, enroll for three EE 397M courses in that fall or spring semester with the approval of your advisor.
• The Graduate School monitors on-campus employment (GRA, TA, etc.) but not off-campus employment.
• Effective fall 2020, TX Global no longer combines the hours of on-campus employment (GRA, TA, etc.) and off-campus internship employment hours and categorizes the combined hours as full-time CPT if the total combined hours exceed 20 hours per week. In other words, if you work 20 hours or less as an intern, the internship will be categorized as part-time CPT no matter if you also have approval to work simultaneously on campus as a GRA or TA or GRA/TA combined for 20 hours per 
week or less. 
• You must obtain approval to work on and off campus simultaneously for a combined total of 40 hours per week or less; see below.

CPT: How to obtain approval to work on and off campus simultaneously for a combined total of 40 hours per week or less
• Approval to work on and off campus simultaneously for a combined total of 40 hours per week or less, and not to exceed 40 hours per week, is granted by sending one email to your 
supervisor(s)/advisor; your TA professor(s) if not your supervising professor; your GRA professor(s) if not your supervising professor; the supervisor of an on-campus position with another title, if applicable; copying Melanie Gulick (ECE Graduate Coordinator, melanie.gulick@mail.utexas.edu) 
and Laura P. Flores (ECE HR Coordinator, laura.p.flores@austin.utexas.edu); and asking all the professors and/or supervisor(s) to Reply to All to confirm their approval for you to work on campus as a GRA, TA, etc. and to work off campus simultaneously as an intern using CPT. 
• In the email, you must provide detailed information about each position, the hours you will work, your job duties, the dates of employment, and how you will manage the heavy workload. 
• Approval is not guaranteed.