Review important policies:

• SCAI CPT Policy 

• International Students and Scholars Center CPT website

• Program-specific policies can be found in the handbook. 

• Renege Policy 

  • Example: A student accepts a new offer after already accepting an offer.

  • Future applications will be denied if it is found that a student has reneged on an accepted offer.

Review academic eligibility: 

• SCAI Accelerated Masters (AMP) students: Please refer to this page for detailed guidance on your CPT/OPT options!

• All international students must be in F1 student status for one academic year (fall/spring semesters) to apply for CPT.

• Your cumulative, iPOS, and graduate GPAs all must meet the minimum requirements to be eligible. Refer to the GPA Matrix. 

  1. • Full-time = 21 hrs+

• You must have an approved iPOS on file with the appropriate CPT credits listed in the appropriate semester(s). If your iPOS is not approved, please submit iPOS and CPT applications simultaneously.

• Any assigned additional/deficiency courses have been completed, waived, or are in progress to be completed within the one-year timeframe (including summer).

• You are not planning to take a 12-credit "overload" in the semester completing CPT. Students may only do one - CPT or overload - not both. 

• International students must maintain their immigration status, please refer to the ISSC CPT webpage.  Click on the drop-down menu for "Eligibility."

Review internship eligibility:

• The employer has attested that they agree to review and approve a written CPT report at the end of the internship. The Industry Mentor/Supervisor must sign the report to assure accuracy and to ensure that no company sensitive information is compromised. 

  • If the employer is unwilling to approve the CPT report, CPT cannot be approved. Students should apply for Pre-OPT in this scenario.

• The position must not be a 1099 independent contractor/consulting arrangement.

See the rolling application deadlines for Spring 2026 CPT applications.

• When planning your CPT start date, consider that you must allow up to 4 weeks processing time for your CPT application to be reviewed by SCAI, your employer, your faculty advisor (if applicable) and ISSC. If you do not allow enough time for processing, you may be asked to adjust your start date and resubmit your application.

• Students on academic probation must plan for a start date no earlier than 4 weeks after grades post, as the application will be held until grades are officially posted and CPT eligibility is verified. 

• Students should plan to work for a minimum of 6-7 weeks (the minimum course session length) to qualify as a complete and quality academic experience. Applications for internships less than 6 weeks in length will be denied. 

• Processing time starts when a correct and acceptable application is submitted. Late, incomplete and/or incorrect applications will not be accepted and will delay processing time. 

• Kindly refrain from asking about the status of your application as this further delays processing times. Applications are reviewed in the order received, and we will not place priority on one student's application over another for any reason. 

• Please reach out to advising before the final semester application submission deadline if there are concerns with meeting the application deadline. 

Students may work within the start & end date parameters listed below. 

• • Although the I-20 may have a later end date, students must plan to work within the dates listed on the approved SCAI CPT application. 

  • If students want to work beyond the end date listed on the application, an extension request is required. 

  • Refer to the ASU Academic Calendar for specific semester dates.

Summer: 

• Start: No sooner than the 1st official day of the summer semester 

• End: Continuing students- no later than the day before the fall semester starts; Graduating students- last day of summer class

Fall:

• Start: 1st official day of the fall semester

• End: Continuing students- the day before the spring semester starts; Graduating students- last day of finals

Spring:

• Start: 1st official day of the Spring semester 

• End: Continuing students- the day before the summer semester starts; Graduating students- last day of finals

Have the following items ready before starting the CPT application (Step 4) process:

• Job description: The Adobe Sign and the CPT Information Sheet both have fields for this information.

• Obtain the name and email address for industry mentor/supervisor/recruiter who will be signing the adobe form.

• You will attach the following 3 documents to the adobe sign application:

  • • Copy of the Offer Letter.

    • Educational Objective (EO): You will need to write a short but detailed paragraph on how the internship is applicable to your program. Please download and use this template.

    • The ISSC CPT Employer Information Sheet from ISSC CPT webpage (form is located under "How to Apply"). 

      1. When saving this PDF document, please "Print to PDF." 

      2. This form will need an employer supervisor signature.

      3. On the adobe form, you must have answered 'yes' to the question "Are you an international student?" in order to be prompted to attach this document.

🔵 If you were hired by one company but a third-party company will be supervising your internship and approving your CPT report, both employers will need to sign an ISSC Employer Information Sheet and you will need to complete TWO CPT (adobe) applications - one for the hiring company that will be paying you and one for the third-party company that is supervising your internship and will approve the CPT report. 

Application links coming soon!

⚠️ If you were hired by one company but a third-party company will be supervising your internship, click here.

Helpful reminders:

• If you do not allow enough time for processing, you may be asked to adjust your start date.

• Enter the number of credits you will have completed at the time of the internship.

• If you are unable to type in a text field on the adobe form, this is because it is meant to be completed by your employer.

• You must have answered 'yes' to the question "Are you an international student?" in order to be prompted to attach the ISSC CPT Employer Information sheet.

Next Steps & Important Notes

• SCAI advising will review your application. Again, kindly refrain from inquiring about the status or how long it will take to process your application. Processing times vary and will increase during peak times as this only further delays overall processing times for students.

  • If approved, the application will move forward to be signed by your employer. Once signed, you will receive a confirmation email notifying you that the application has been completed and you may move forward with the next steps. 

    • Note, it is common for the application to sit with the employer! Be sure to let your employer know that the form is coming from Adobe. An automatic weekly reminder email is sent to the employer. You may alert us if you need us to resend or update their email address.

  • If denied, you will receive an email notification with notes from advising on what needs to be corrected. The processing time begins once a complete and accurate application has been submitted.

Click here to complete the form

You must be logged into your ASU Google account or incognito in Chrome! 

Register for the 584 course (Session C or B** as appropriate) that corresponds to your degree plan and track:  

If you're having trouble viewing this on your phone, please try viewing it on a laptop.

CEN-CS CS DSAE-CDA

Course Prefix: CEN Course Prefix: CSE Course Prefix: DSE

Thesis: Faculty Chair* Thesis: Faculty Chair* Thesis: Faculty Chair*

Non-thesis: Martin Reisslein Non-thesis: Arival Shrivastava Non-thesis: Rong Pan

IE RAS SE

Course Prefix: IEE Course Prefix: CSE Course Prefix: SER

Thesis: Faculty Chair* Thesis: Faculty Chair* Thesis: Faculty Chair*

Non-thesis: Feng Ju Non-thesis: Sangram Redkar Non-thesis: Srividya Bansal

*Email advising to add faculty to the instructor list as needed.

**If approved for internship after the add deadline for session C, then you will need to register for session B (assuming some or all of your employment falls within the session B dates). 

Approval to pursue an internship in a specific semester is granted via the CPT Application (Adobe Sign Internship Request) process. Requests to drop CEN/CSE/DSE/IEE/SER 584 after the posted add/drop or tuition refund deadlines will not be approved. 

Once you receive the email with the completed SCAI CPT Application, you may initiate the ISSC CPT I-20 e-Form.  Do not work until you have the CPT I-20 in hand. 

•  Visit ISSC's CPT website and follow the instructions posted there.

• The  CPT I-20 request eform will ask you to enter advisor information: You must enter "SCAI Advising" as the advisor name, and enter scai.grad.CPT@asu.edu as the advisor email.

• Please note the following:

  • You must be registered in the appropriate 584 course and your enrollment must match the number of credits listed on the iPOS before the CPT eform can be completed.

  • Do not send follow-up emails alerting us that you have submitted the CPT eForm or asking us to expedite it. You should allow 3 to 7 business days for the CPT eform to be processed by SCAI.

  • Do NOT contact ISSC to request they expedite your request.  ISSC needs 7 business days to process I-20 requests. 

    • Note: If the CPT I-20 request form is submitted to SCAI less than 10 business days before your expected start date, then your start date may be changed. 

• Until you have final approval from ISSC, you cannot start working or assume that you have authorization for CPT.