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← All ideas IDEA-121 6.8 us newcomer-navigator developed

OPT, STEM-OPT, H-1B lottery, FICA exemption, Form 8843 — one timeline. Not legal advice, just deadlines that stop colliding.

Problem

I'm an F-1 student on post-completion OPT. I have a 90-day unemployment cap I keep counting on a Notion page. My DSO has 1200 students — she can't email me. STEM-OPT extension needs I-983 training plan + 6-month + 12-month employer reports. My H-1B lottery is in March. And my employer kept withholding FICA on my paycheck for 4 months because their payroll team didn't believe I was exempt as F-1. Then I almost filed taxes on TurboTax — but TurboTax doesn't even support 1040-NR, and filing wrong can wreck my future H-1B and green card. I need ONE place that knows USCIS + IRS + DSO deadlines stop colliding.

Audience

F-1 / J-1 international students within 18 months of graduation, all post-completion OPT participants, and all STEM-OPT extension applicants. ~80-120K post-completion OPT participants/year + ~50-70K STEM extensions/year (USCIS data). ~200-300K of the 1.1M total intl students hit their first US tax season annually. Heavy in Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Brazilian cohorts.

Reasoning

Source signals

  • SIG-20260426-us-newcomer-navigator-international-grad-fica-1098t-confusion: "Most popular tools don't support 1040-NR — Filing incorrectly can jeopardize future visa applications"
  • SIG-20260426-us-newcomer-navigator-international-grad-opt-stem-deadlines: "I-983 training plan, OPT 90-day unemployment cap, STEM 24-month extension"

What we ship

**Core features (MVP)**

  • **OPT/STEM/H-1B Status Timeline**: input (program end-date, EAD start-date, calendar-years-in-US-so-far, STEM-eligible major yes/no) → output (timeline across 4 deadline axes: USCIS unemployment cap, I-983 reports, IRS year-5 NRA→RA transition, DSO check-ins)
  • **90-Day Unemployment Counter**: live counter (days remaining) with pause/resume for each gig (full-time vs >20hr/wk part-time vs unemployed)
  • **Form 8843 Generator**: free standalone — even students with zero income can generate filled PDF + mailing instructions
  • **FICA-Exemption Letter Generator**: input (student name, employer, calendar-years-in-US, position) → output (employer-ready letter with IRC §3121(b)(19) reference + IRS Pub 519 cite — explicit "this is a draft letter for your information, not legal advice")
  • **Tax-Treaty Country Lookup**: 40+ countries (India, China, S. Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, etc.) → benefit summary + treaty-article number
  • **STEM-OPT Reporting Reminder**: I-983 6-month + 12-month employer report calendar
  • **Year-5 NRA→RA Alert**: automatic flag when student approaches 5-year exemption boundary

**Primary user flow**

1. Landing "Your OPT timeline. Your taxes. Your H-1B lottery. One place."

2. Free Form 8843 generator (no signup wall — for everyone, including no-income students) — primary traffic magnet

3. Onboarding: 5-question quiz → free generic timeline + 1 free FICA-letter template

4. Pricing trigger: "Get the OPT Pack ($12 one-time — full timeline, unlimited FICA letters, tax-treaty lookup, STEM-OPT reporting calendar)"

5. Pro tier $4/mo — covers entire 36-month STEM extension (including SMS reminders for critical milestones)

**What it looks like**

  • **Landing page**: hero "1.1M international students. 0 tools that combine USCIS + IRS + DSO dates." + free Form 8843 button
  • **Main app screen**: timeline visualization with 4 vertical lanes (USCIS / IRS / DSO / Career), milestones as clickable nodes
  • **Output**: "Your Status Map" PDF + downloaded Form 8843 PDF + downloaded FICA-letter PDF + weekly SMS for key milestones

**MVP build plan (11 days)**

  • Day 1-3: backend (User, Status, Milestone, EmploymentEvent, Form, TreatyCountry), JWT, 90-day unemployment counter logic
  • Day 4-5: Form 8843 generator (WeasyPrint replicating IRS form), FICA-letter generator (Claude Sonnet with template guardrails)
  • Day 6-7: timeline engine, tax-treaty matrix import (40 countries from IRS Pub 901, curated)
  • Day 8: Stripe Checkout one-time + Subscriptions Pro tier
  • Day 9: landing with free-Form-8843 traffic-magnet + cohort-specific testimonials
  • Day 10: deploy CF Pages + Railway
  • Day 11: soft launch on r/F1visa, r/OPTSTEM, r/intltostudents, NAFSA forums, university DSO Slack workspaces (peer virality within program cohort)

Reasoning

Double-confirmed pain: 2 SIGs in 18 (FICA/1098-T confusion + OPT/STEM deadlines), both HIGH quality, RECURRING. Cohort huge — 200-300K new tax-filers + 80-120K OPT/year. Damage from mistakes is concrete: misfiled tax = H-1B/green card jeopardy (downstream cost $50K+); missed unemployment cap = status loss → forced departure. $12 one-time = <$1 per dollar saved if even one piece of paperwork is correct. Stack-fit perfect: static deadlines + form generation (PDF templates) + Stripe + Twilio. NOT immigration advice (we don't review USCIS petitions, no "should you apply"). NOT tax filing (Sprintax already exists — we complement them: pre-Sprintax season we're a reminder layer, post-season a referral partner). Strictly orientation + form generation. White-space obvious: Sprintax = paid filing ($30-50), no timeline-engine; SEVP doesn't provide a personal tracker; DSOs at large schools have 1000+ students each. r/F1visa is a community, not a tool.

Quick competitive read

Quick brave-search:

  • **Sprintax / Glacier**: paid 1040-NR filing software ($30-50), not timeline-engine
  • **TrackMyOPT**: tracks OPT employment-cap days (free, simple), doesn't cover IRS / H-1B / treaty axis
  • **SEVP / SEVIS portal**: official, no personalization
  • **Boundless / VisaVerge / iVisa**: marketing-funnels for paid attorney services
  • **NAFSA forums / r/F1visa / r/OPTSTEM**: community boards
  • **University DSO offices**: overstretched, can't proactively track 1000+ students
  • **f1tax.com / TaxoNRA**: tax-prep blogs, not a tool
  • White-space: timeline-engine integrating USCIS + IRS + DSO + Career axes — no direct competitor (competitive_pressure 7/10)

Initial pricing hypothesis

Free Form 8843 generator forever (traffic magnet — every F-1 student even without income needs it). $12 one-time OPT Pack = full timeline + unlimited FICA letters + treaty lookup + STEM-OPT reporting calendar — 12-month access. Pro $4/mo = 36-month STEM extension coverage (including SMS reminders, year-5 NRA→RA alert). $12 = 5% of typical Sprintax annual spend ($30-50/year × 5+ years on F-1).

Distribution hypothesis

1. Reddit r/F1visa, r/OPTSTEM, r/intltostudents, r/h1b — soft launch with free Form 8843 generator (no signup wall)

2. NAFSA student-affairs forums + university DSO Slack workspaces (peer-to-peer virality)

3. WeChat / Telegram / WhatsApp groups for Indian, Chinese, Korean, Brazilian student communities

4. Programmatic SEO: "F-1 Form 8843 free 2026" + "OPT 90 day unemployment counter" + "FICA exempt F1 letter template" — high-intent search queries

5. Co-marketing with Sprintax — we send referral after OPT Pack, they refer Form 8843 traffic to us (mutual front-funnel)

Source signals (2)

  • SIG-20260426-us-newcomer-navigator-international-grad-opt-stem-deadlines:
  • SIG-20260426-us-newcomer-navigator-international-grad-fica-1098t-confusion: