It is legal and so far it has been safe. You know that the rule for Day 1 CPT requires that when you join, you are associating with a graduate program otherwise you cannot get a Day 1 CPT. The Curricular Practical Training is an integral part of your degree. You cannot finish the degree without the practical training. The other thing is the employer signs the cooperative agreement with the university. The only additional suggestion I have is if you are going to do Curricular Practical Training make it as an adjunct to your profession.
For more information please check my blog.
https://immigration.com/blogs/curricular-practical-training-cpt
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Note: Unless the context shows otherwise, all answers here were provided by Rajiv and were compiled and reported by our editorial team from comments, blog and community calls on immigration.com. Where transcribed from audio/video, a verbatim transcript is provided. Therefore, it may not conform to the written grammatical or syntactical form.
I just got my H-1B renewed for a 7th Year through the Law offices of Rajiv S. Khanna. Rajiv, with whom, I had been corresponding on various issues pertaining to my greencard, H-1B, etc., is always accessible and extremely helpful. He is extremely prompt in responding to the email--usually in a few hours and sometimes almost instantaneous. His promptness had always helped to ease the anxiety levels. I will be always be grateful for that, THANK YOU RAJIV. I also would like to thank Richa Narang, Shivane Sharma for their work and time on my GC case. And, Anna Baker and Charu Bhagat for their time and work on my H-1B 7th Year extension. I had countless conversations with Richa, Shivane, and Anna. They are not only diligent and professional in the work they do, but more importantly all the three have a great human trait: EMPATHY. They are prompt in responding to emails and in keeping me informed of the status. My sincere thanks to all of you and keep up the good work. I have already recommended Law offices of Rajiv S. Khanna to several of my friends. And many are now his clients.