If you work in international education, or if you’re an F-1 student yourself, you’ve probably heard about Optional Practical Training (OPT). OPT is up to a year of work authorization for F-1 students who have completed at least one year at the college level in the United States.

I’ve noticed in the past that figuring out how much OPT a student has left, or which OPT dates are possible, can sometimes be a bit tricky.  A few months ago, I decided to create an online calculator based on an Excel calculator that I made at the office. Click here to give it a try. It runs on Google Apps Script, so if you use Google Apps for Education, you should be able to create a copy for students at your college in a few minutes.

I’d been meaning to post this for a while now and just recently got reminded today when a former colleague asked for a recommendation on work authorization calculators. Try it out and let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions for improvements, leave a comment here or tweet me @finnimundi.