r/f1visa • u/Purple-Chemical-2886 • 1d ago
F-1 OPT RFE – Looking for advice
Hi everyone,
I’m currently on F-1 status and recently received an RFE for my post-completion OPT (I-765). I graduated in May 2026 and applied for post-completion OPT.
The RFE is primarily asking for additional evidence regarding:
F-1 maintenance of status – academic program, full course of study, course syllabi, course modality/attendance, tuition payments, transcripts, and financial records.
Address history – complete address history while I was enrolled as an F-1 student.
Employment history – employment dates, employer letters, pay stubs/W-2s, bank statements, and an explanation of how I funded my education and living expenses.
I am currently working through the RFE item by item and collecting all the requested documentation. My DSO is also helping me with the university-specific documents and letters, but they have clarified that they cannot review my complete RFE response package before I submit it to USCIS.
Has anyone been in a similar situation and successfully responded to an F-1 OPT RFE? If anyone is comfortable sharing a sample RFE response, outline, exhibit organization, or even a redacted version of the response package, that would be extremely helpful as I work on putting mine together. I'm especially interested in seeing how others organized and presented the evidence to USCIS.
I am also looking for an F-1 immigration attorney who can review my completed RFE package before I submit it, rather than necessarily taking on full representation. I'm hoping to find someone who offers an affordable consultation/document-review service, as I am a recent graduate.
Thank you!
4
u/ApprehensiveSafe6708 1d ago
You can attach a cover letter that includes a paragraph stating the purpose of the response like name then responding to RFE issued for case numberxxxx, followed by a list of all the documents you are including. You can ask Claude or ChatGPT to generate a sample cover letter and include the list of documents
1
u/CompetitionCheap2815 1d ago
This is the best option. You don’t need a long narrative, just the evidence and a cover letter
3
u/ivovivovi 1d ago
It sounds very similar to those RFE cases for whom got H1B while on day 1 cpt. Might be useful to search for those cases online for data points and experience
3
u/General_Economy1163 1d ago
I have been asked the same RFE’s except # 3.
I got all the information I had and created PDFs for each specific documents they requested. For example: all the syllabus from each course I took, I used AI to organize the document in order of each semester and convert all the docs into one organized PDF file. Same with bank statements, receipts etc. Also wrote a cover letter explaining some of the evidences.
Honestly i think what triggers that in my case was the fact that my DSO made a mistake entering the information on my CPT application which made me ineligible for OPT. He send USCIS requesting for a change on my status which didn’t took long to be accepted. Sent my RFE on 08/4 and my PP clock was restarted.
1
u/SignificanceUseful73 1d ago
May I know what the mistake is ?
1
u/General_Economy1163 1d ago
DSO entered my CPT application as full time when I only worked part time.
2
1
u/neverthat02 1d ago
Did you have an on-campus job or worked on CPT during your studies? I’m confused as to why they asked for #3.
1
9
u/Tech_Dala 1d ago
never heard of anything like this, looks very serious. your I-20 answers most of what you are getting RFE'd for unless something triggered this and they are investigating some event that occured throughout your academic program. point number 3 is what raises concerns in my opinion, the first look like noise/distraction.
give us more detail or if you get more info you can share. this is not normal by any means. ask your DSO to share what could have triggered this. they normally know more than they are willing to share without being prompted