What is 17 months OPT extension ?

Well most of international students were very excited when they heard about the new OPT regulation which allows you to extend your OPT to 17 months after your regular 12 month period. But there are few conditions to this rule.

1. One your field of study should be STEM Field, means it should be Science,Technology, Engineering, Math degrees.

2. The company you are working while in your regular OPT period should be E-Verified.

The downside is that most companies in US are not e-verified and are against this rule.

The definition as per wikipedia.com is E-Verify is a voluntary program run by the United States government to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the United States. Formerly known as the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program, the program is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration.

There is no list of E-Verify companies as it is not allowed according to federal laws. Hence you should ask the employer if they are e-verified before getting employed. But the best thing is not to think about the 17 months extension and just get you H1b processed with the 12 month OPT period.