STEM OPT Extension: Which Canadian Degrees Qualify

What the STEM OPT extension covers

Standard Optional Practical Training (OPT) gives F-1 graduates 12 months of work authorization tied to their major. If your degree qualifies as STEM, you apply for a 24-month extension on top of that, for up to 36 months total in F-1 work status before you need another visa category such as H-1B. The extension exists so graduates in STEM fields get more time to find or keep employer sponsorship. Details sit on the STEM OPT Hub run by the Department of Homeland Security.

Which Canadian degrees qualify

Your eligibility depends on your degree's Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code, not the department name on your diploma. Schools assign a CIP code to every program, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) publishes the full STEM Designated Degree Program List through the SEVIS Practical Training page .

Fields that typically qualify:

• Engineering and engineering technologies

• Computer and information sciences, including software engineering and data science

• Mathematics and statistics

• Physical sciences: physics, chemistry, geosciences

• Biological and biomedical sciences that carry a STEM CIP code

• Certain agriculture, natural resources and science-heavy analytics programs

A Canadian bachelor's, master's or PhD earned at a US school qualifies if the school assigned it a listed CIP code. A social science, humanities or standard business degree usually does not qualify, even if the coursework included statistics or programming. Check your CIP code with your school's international student office before you assume either way.

Your employer must run E-Verify

Your employer needs an active E-Verify account for every hiring site connected to your STEM OPT job before you submit your extension application. A small employer that has never used E-Verify can enroll, but enrollment takes time, so raise it with your employer as soon as you start planning your extension.

Form I-983: the training plan

You and your employer fill out Form I-983 together. It lists your goals, the knowledge and skills you gain, how your employer supervises and evaluates you, and how the work connects to your STEM degree. You file it with your school, not with USCIS directly, and your school's Designated School Official (DSO) uses it to recommend the extension in SEVIS. You and your employer complete a self-evaluation at the 12-month mark of the extension and again at the end.

Timing and the lifetime cap

File your STEM extension application up to 90 days before your first 12-month OPT authorization expires. USCIS processing takes time, so filing early protects your work authorization. If your case is still pending when your original OPT expires, an automatic extension covers you while USCIS decides, as long as you filed on time.

You get only two STEM extensions in your lifetime, and each one must connect to a different qualifying degree at a different, higher degree level. A Canadian student who used a STEM extension after an undergraduate engineering degree, then later earns a master's in a different STEM field, becomes eligible for a second extension tied to that master's.

If your CIP code is not on the list

A non-STEM degree does not block a second bachelor's or master's later in a listed STEM field. Some students complete a second, shorter STEM degree specifically to access the extension. Confirm your program's exact CIP code with your registrar early, since a code mismatch discovered close to your OPT expiration leaves little time to fix.

Why this matters if you plan to return to Canada

Extra OPT time gives you more US work experience before an employer decides on H-1B sponsorship, or before you decide to move back to Canada. Many Canadian graduates use STEM OPT specifically to build a resume line that helps with jobs in Canada afterward, since the visa mechanics end once you cross the border north. Track your unemployment days carefully during the extension, since STEM OPT unemployment rules stack onto the same clock as your original 12 months.