USCIS announced today, April 6, 2018, that the FY 2019 H-1B cap is now closed because it has received a sufficient number of H‐1B petitions to reach the 65,000 statutory cap as well as the 20,000 advanced degree exemption. The announcement did not provide details about the total number of H-1B petitions filed. USCIS will … Continue Reading
This week, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) published its quarterly “SEVIS by the Numbers” report announcing that there are over one million international students in the United States. Many of these students will seek employment with U.S. companies using work authorization granted to them pursuant to their F or M visa status. In … Continue Reading
The new STEM OPT program became effective on May 10, 2016, and represents a complete overhaul of how this program has operated since 2008. For the uninitiated, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics; and OPT stands for Optional Practical Training. As previously reported, F-1 students with qualifying STEM degrees are now eligible for … Continue Reading
Today DHS released an advanced copy of its final rule allowing foreign students with degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to extend their Optional Practical Training (OPT) for an additional 24 months. DHS will publish the final rule in the Federal Register this Friday. The rule will go into effect on May 10. … Continue Reading
On Jan. 23, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) additional time–until May 10, 2016–before the court’s vacatur of the 2008, 17-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) STEM Extension rule would go into effect. DHS requested this additional time to review more than 50,000 comments it received in response … Continue Reading
The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech) filed a response on Jan. 11, 2016, in opposition to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) request to extend the deadline to implement the STEM OPT rule from Feb. 12, 2016, to May 10, 2016. DHS requested additional time to finalize the STEM OPT interim rule after receiving more than … Continue Reading
In August 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia determined that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) improperly promulgated the regulation allowing the 17-month STEM extension for optional practical training (OPT) because the regulation was not subject to notice and comment rulemaking, which requires DHS to consider public comments before making the … Continue Reading
On October 19, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued the long awaited notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its F-1 nonimmigrant student visa regulations to allow for an extension of a student’s Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) period for an additional 24 months if the student has met the requirements. The proposed rule is in … Continue Reading
