u/New-Cod-3915

I've been watching closely all the trackers available right now that are collecting data from voluntary submissions and subreddits. It seems like STEM OPT applications in particular are frozen for SEVERAL days in multiple occasions, with no updates, not a single approval and a complete silence for a long time. Regular OPTs, on the other hand, are going much faster, with extensive batches approved every day. I am in my 86th day of STEM OPT application and I have no hope that my case will move any faster.

Does anyone understand why STEM OPT applications are significantly slower? Of course I am excluding premium processing from this question because they enter a whole different type of timeline.

Thanks.

I've been watching closely OPT Pulse and other timeline trackers that compile posts from Reddit and I think that it is safe to say now that the approval batch releases are VERY consistent depending on when you applied. A regular, non-PP application with zero issues takes between 105 to 110 days to be approved. Nothing faster, nothing slower than that. So if you're anxious and need some predictability like me, you now have the baseline as long as you have filed correctly.