<p>I know someone already asked this before.. but my situation and question are different. Usually people got their internship offers during spring quarter so that they can finish their CPT before the summer started. I just got my internship from today until before school starts, which will be end of september. I've asked the international student office in my school and Electrical engineering department, which is my major, and they require me to take an internship class so that they can process my CPT. in this case, i have to find a professor who wants to sponsor me. But now in summer, it's so hard to find any professors available since they are now on holiday. </p>
<p>my question is: is it possible if i am doing internship without CPT? what will be the worst case? is it different? one of my friends did her internship without CPT last year ( she is international student too), and she got no problem until now. Im just thinking to follow her way.. </p>
<p>The other legal alternative to CPT is OPT. However, OPT applications take 2-3 months to process, during which time you cannot work, which would be too late for you.</p>
<p>There are several risks working illegally. If your employer thinks you are legal and reports your income to US authorities for tax purposes, authorities will know that you worked without authorization. That would invalidate your student visa and will make it harder for you to obtain future US visas. Your employer may be required to screen all new hires using E-Verify, which would also flag you as working illegally. (All federal contractors, subcontractors and employers who want to hire F-1 students on OPT extension are required to use E-Verify for their entire workforce.) And last but not least, your employer may simply not want to hire you without proper paperwork because it’s a risk for them as well. Checking an employee’s work authorization is a standard part of the HR paperwork for new hires in most companies.</p>
<p>Unpaid internships are still illegal without proper work authorization unless they qualifiy as charity work (volunteering for a non-profit that benefits the local community, in a position that’s usually unpaid) or fall within the narrow scope of work that would be allowed under a tourist visa (e.g. business negotiations). Most unpaid internships are also illegal under minimum wage laws. However, since no money changes hands, they are harder to track for authorities.</p>