The internship system for international students in the United States has undergone significant changes in the recent past. According to Reuters on August 28, the U.S. Government has issued new federal guidelines to schools for stricter enforcement of F-1 international students. Curricular Practical Training（CPT） It's already in place. Some universities, including UC Berkeley and UCLA, have taken suspension or re-examination measures in respect of specific types of CPT applications.
The information is most easily misconstrued as “the US cancels the CPT”, but the information does not support this claim at this time. According to the United States Department of Homeland Security, the legislation in force has not changed in itself; The focus of law enforcement is to confirm whether the CPT is indeed part of the student curriculum, rather than packaging out-of-school work as a course internship.
The CPT was supposed to be a course internship.
CPT is an authorized mechanism for F-1 students to undertake out-of-school internships or work during school attendance, but the core condition has always been that work must be directly related to the student ' s major and academic programmes and be part of the curriculum requirements or the substantive part of the curriculum design.
In the case of UCLA, for example, CPT applies to out-of-school internships or work related to the academic curriculum of students, who must apply for and obtain authorization in accordance with the school procedure before starting work.
Thus, the central issue in the implementation of this wave is not whether the students can " intern " , but whether the school needs to prove it more rigorously: Why is this internship part of the course?
Which students are likely to be more affected?
It is usually easier to prove a link to the course if the internship itself is a graduation requirement, a mandatory internship, co-op or a substantive training explicitly included in the course design. In contrast, if students are registered in another form for work experience, they may face more rigorous scrutiny in the future.
Some universities have suspended some non-essential CPTs pending further recognition of the legal and administrative implications of the new guidelines.
What does it mean for a student who's going to study in America?
When choosing a school, you can't just ask if this university can make a CPT. It is even more important to confirm whether the faculty itself has an internship, practicum, co-op, or executive learning; (b) Whether internships are formally included in the curriculum; What review criteria are currently used by the International Student Office.
In particular, students who have made "Attendance to America + Apprenticeship during School" an important plan should look at the institution curriculum before accepting offer, rather than enrolling in school to find a course that can work with the CPT.
Policies are still evolving rapidly and school practices may differ. F-1 students who are already enrolled in the United States are subject to the latest circular of the international student office of their own school and avoid any out-of-school work prior to obtaining a formal CPT authorization.
