How early should I start looking for H1B jobs while on OPT?

Months 4 to 6 of your OPT, ideally. The H1B cap-subject lottery happens in March each year for an October start; you need an offer and a sponsoring employer in hand before that window. Working backwards, that means starting your active search in mid-fall if your OPT runs through the following summer.

What's a cap-exempt H1B employer?

Universities, government research organizations, and certain non-profits affiliated with universities can sponsor H1B without going through the cap-subject lottery. The process is faster and more predictable. The trade-off is that the pool of cap-exempt employers is much smaller and the pay is often below tech-industry rates.

Can I switch jobs during OPT?

Yes. OPT is portable across employers as long as the new role is in your field of study. Just keep SEVIS updated with your new employer information within 10 days of starting.

What if I don't win the H1B lottery?

Options depend on what you have. STEM OPT extension if your degree qualifies. O-1 visa if you have extraordinary credentials (rare for new grads). Re-enrollment in a US master's or PhD to restart the visa clock. Or relocate to Canada or Europe where the work-visa path is more predictable; many US tech companies have offices there.

Do I need to disclose my visa status on applications?

Most application forms ask the work-authorization question directly, and yes, answer honestly. Companies that won't sponsor screen on this question; companies that will sponsor want to know early to plan. Lying about it backfires at the offer stage when paperwork starts.

H1B vs OPT: The Job Search Guide for International Candidates

OPT and H1B are the two visas every international tech worker in the US has to navigate. The information online is dense, often outdated, and usually written for lawyers rather than job-seekers. Here's a job-search-focused guide on how the two visas work, when to start searching, and what to do if the H1B lottery doesn't go your way.

The difference, in plain English

OPT (Optional Practical Training) is post-graduation work authorization for F-1 students. 12 months by default. If your degree is STEM-eligible, you can extend by 24 more months for a total of 36 months.
H1B is a longer-term work visa sponsored by your employer. Initial duration is 3 years, extendable to 6, with longer extensions if a green-card application is pending.
The bridge is the hard part. Most international tech workers do OPT first, then transition to H1B before OPT runs out. The transition requires an H1B-sponsoring employer, a winning lottery slot (for cap-subject employers), and the right timing.

The OPT timeline

Your OPT clock starts on your EAD card's effective date (usually a month or two after graduation). From that moment:

Months 1-12: Standard OPT, available to all F-1 graduates.
Months 13-36: STEM extension, available only to graduates of STEM-eligible degrees (most CS, EE, ME, Physics, Math).
60-day grace period: After OPT ends without a status change, you have 60 days to leave the US or transition to another visa.

The STEM extension is the most consequential single fact for tech workers on OPT. It gives you 36 months total instead of 12, which is usually three H1B lottery chances instead of one.

When to start your H1B job search if you're on OPT

The actionable timeline depends on which H1B lottery you're aiming for. Cap-subject H1B registrations open in March each year for an October 1 start. Working backwards:

March of year X: H1B lottery registration. You need an offer and a sponsoring employer in hand to be entered.
January-February of year X: Finalize the offer and confirm the employer will sponsor.
October-January (year X-1 to year X): Active job search, interviews, offer negotiation.
July-September of year X-1: Start applying.

Translation: if you graduated in May and your OPT starts in June, your active H1B search starts in July-September of that same year for the following March lottery. That's months 1-3 of OPT, before you've even fully settled into your first role.

Cap-exempt vs cap-subject: the distinction that changes your strategy

Cap-subject employers (most companies) have to go through the March lottery. Selection rates have been in the 20-30% range in recent years. Cap-exempt employers (universities, affiliated research institutions, certain non-profits) can sponsor H1B without the lottery, year-round.

For tech-industry job-seekers, the cap-exempt pool is small but worth knowing about: major research universities (Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, etc.) have engineering and research roles that are cap-exempt, and some pay competitively. If you're approaching your final OPT chance and need a sponsor in hand, cap-exempt is a real backup.

How to talk to recruiters about your visa status

Do it in the recruiter screen, frame it as logistics, and be specific. Two patterns that work:

If you need sponsorship now: "I want to flag upfront that I'd need H1B sponsorship for this role. I'm currently on OPT through [date]. Is sponsorship something the company can support?"
If you need sponsorship in the future: "I'm authorized to work for the next [X months] on OPT, but I'll need H1B sponsorship at the [Year] lottery. Wanted to flag in case that affects the conversation."

These patterns save you and the recruiter hours when the answer is no, and signal professionalism when the answer is yes. The frame is "logistics," not "apology."

Application volume reality

H1B-needing candidates typically apply to 200-500 roles over an active search. The filtering for sponsoring employers cuts the available pool dramatically, and the per-application acceptance rates make volume part of the math. At 5-10 minutes per form manually, 200 applications is 16-33 hours of pure form-typing. Lentra fills the form, including the sponsorship and work-authorization questions, in about 20 seconds. Free, built for exactly this scenario.

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