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.  Beginning May 10, students who are currently in the U.S. under their 17-month STEM OPT extension will be able to file to extend their OPT for an additional 7 months.

This rule gives foreign students with STEM degrees the opportunity to work in the United States for up to 36 months.  The extended time period offers a number of benefits to foreign students and U.S. employers that wish to hire them.  By defining fields of study that qualify for STEM in accordance with the Department of Education’s Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) categories, the new rule expands on the permissible fields of study that were authorized under the old STEM rule.  Notably, increasing OPT work authorization from 29 months to 36 months will give F-1 STEM OPT holders more chances at being selected for an H-1B visa number in the annual H-1B lottery.  The rule also redresses the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s vacatur of the 2008, 17-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) STEM Extension rule, and part of the contentious legal battle surrounding the overall validity of the STEM extension program, which is expected to be decided by a Federal court in May.

In addition to offering significant benefits, the rule imposes additional compliance requirements on STEM OPT workers and the U.S. employers who hire them:

  • STEM OPT students, with the cooperation of their employers, will be required to prepare and execute a formal training plan that identifies learning objectives and plans for achieving those objectives.  This information will be collected on Form I-983, Training Plan for STEM OPT students.  Employers will also need to evaluate student progress by signing an evaluation on an annual basis – the first one during the initial 12-month period and the final one at the conclusion of the STEM OPT extension.
  • STEM OPT students must inform their designated school official (DSO) about any name or address changes, and any changes to their employers’ names or addresses.
  • Employers hiring STEM OPT workers will be required to guard against adverse action to full- or part-time U.S. workers by ensuring the STEM OPT employee’s duties, hours, and compensation are commensurate with similarly situated U.S. workers; the company has sufficient resources and trained personnel available to provide training in the specified opportunity; and the opportunity will help the student attain his or her training objectives.
  • Employers will be required to attest that they are not replacing full- or part-time, temporary or permanent U.S. workers with STEM OPT students.
  • STEM extensions will only be available to students with degrees from schools accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
  • Employers must notify the foreign student’s DSO within five business days of when a foreign student terminates or leaves his or her employment before the end of the authorized OPT period.

Under the new rule, DHS will conduct announced and unannounced employer-site visits to ensure that employers and foreign students are following the formal training programs that were provided earlier to DHS to obtain STEM OPT extensions.  These site visits are designed to reduce fraudulent use of the F-1 status.  DHS will provide a notice of inspection at least 48 hours prior, unless the site visit is the result of a complaint or potential noncompliance with the STEM OPT extension regulations.

As welcome news to employers and foreign students, the rule extends cap-gap protection for those H-1B petition beneficiaries that are selected in the H-1B cap.  Under the rule, an F-1 student’s duration of status and employment authorization are automatically extended until September 30 if an H-1B petition is timely filed on behalf of the student, and approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

In light of this new rule, employers should review their OPT population to determine which workers will be eligible for further STEM extensions.  U.S. employers should also verify whether these employees need to change to H-1B status to ensure there is no interruption in their U.S. work authorization beyond the expiration of their OPT.  U.S. employers should plan to file all H-1B cap petitions for FY 2017 by March 31, 2016, keeping in mind some new factors affecting this year’s H-1B cap season.

GT will provide an additional update to this situation once USCIS releases Form I-983 and related guidance.

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Photo of Ian Macdonald Ian Macdonald

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital domestically and internationally, including secondment agreements, benefits transferability, local host country employment concerns and immigration.

Ian and his team work closely with companies to manage and modify, where needed, corporate immigration programs to maximize efficiency, service and regulatory compliance levels. He is experienced with the full range of business immigration sponsorship categories (visas and permanent residence), anti-discrimination rules to reduce or eliminate risk of employment litigation, employer sanction cases, and I-9 and E-Verify compliance. Ian assists clients with establishing risk-based performance standards (RBPS) and Department of Homeland Security protocol, providing risk assessment assistance to corporations subject to Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) and assisting clients with ITAR/Export Control compliance within the immigration context.

Ian has developed strategic relationships abroad that he utilizes when working with clients to ensure compliance with foreign registration requirements. He is experienced with analyzing complex global mobility opportunities on country-specific matters to facilitate the transfer of personnel. Ian is also experienced in counseling employers on immigration strategy as well as immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions, reduction in workforces, and furloughs.

Prior to joining the firm, Ian worked for the United Nations, various non-governmental think tanks and corporate law firms in London, Washington, D.C., New York and Atlanta.

Photo of Cole F. Heyer Cole F. Heyer

Cole F. Heyer has been working in the immigration field for over a decade and has wide-ranging experience in both family-based and employment-based immigration matters. Prior to joining GT in 2015, Cole worked at a high-volume family-based immigration practice where he represented clients

Cole F. Heyer has been working in the immigration field for over a decade and has wide-ranging experience in both family-based and employment-based immigration matters. Prior to joining GT in 2015, Cole worked at a high-volume family-based immigration practice where he represented clients before the Atlanta Immigration Court and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

At GT, Cole focuses his practice on representing domestic and multinational employers before the USCIS, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Department of State (DOS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on virtually all issues that employers may face in the employment context with immigration.

Specifically, Cole represents and advises employers, ranging from small, start-up companies to Fortune 50 companies, in all areas of employment-based immigration matters, including nonimmigrant visa categories (B, E-1/2, E-3, F, H-1B, H-3, J, L-1A/B, O, TN, R), permanent residence (PERM, Extraordinary Ability/Outstanding Researchers, Multinational Managers and National Interest Waivers), naturalization, and DACA. He services companies in all industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical device, oil & gas, retail and fashion, IT, financial services, and food & beverage on U.S. employment-based immigration, compliance and enforcement actions, and global immigration. Cole also assists with GT’s federal litigation practice concerning immigration matters.

Finally, Cole advises employers with I-9 compliance by providing onsite training, internal audits and reviews, and deploying best practices to minimize exposure and liabilities in the event of ICE investigations and audits. As part of this practice, Cole has worked directly with ICE on I-9 audits to negotiate on behalf of employers that he represents.