OPT extended to 29 months from 12 months

G

gcWudBeHere

Registered Users (C)
Just read on immigration-law.com (http://www.immigration-law.com/Canada.html) that OMB has approved 17 months extension plan on OPTs. This plan means that the foreign students graduating from US schools will have virtual-GC (EAD) for 29 months rather the current 12 months.

Wow... what a relief for students graduating from schools... Good luck to you all who are graduating from schools (dont think any subscribe to this thread)

Just wondering how this would affect job market and green cards for the future... Of course, big shots such as MS, IBM, Google, etc would scour the students from graduating classes to tap in the talent at the budding stage (and at the cheapest price)
 
This is indeed great news for students....

Related question, having completed Masters degree in US, after OPT if you go on H1, then eventually move to EAD based on pending I-485.

At some point if you want to go back on H1, do you fall under the regular cap, or the extra 20,000 that is made available to master's degree holders?

Also, if you let you H1 status get invalidated due to going on EAD, can you reapply for H1 later sometime based on approved I-140?
 
GrC2005 said:
This is indeed great news for students....

Related question, having completed Masters degree in US, after OPT if you go on H1, then eventually move to EAD based on pending I-485.

At some point if you want to go back on H1, do you fall under the regular cap, or the extra 20,000 that is made available to master's degree holders?

Also, if you let you H1 status get invalidated due to going on EAD, can you reapply for H1 later sometime based on approved I-140?
Click to expand...

AFAIK, if you have a MS degree you can avail and fall under the 20,000 quota any time you apply for a H1.

H1 is for 6 years. If you haven't used the whole six years at the time of of applying for a H1, you can capture the remaining time by reapplying for H1. I dont think an approved I-140 is even needed.
 
wow, this is excellent news, I have a few friends about to graduate, they will all love this.
Does any one know if this applies to people that already have it?
Mine was valid, but I luckily got a H1B :D

edit:
Does anyone have the link to the detailed info?
 
Thanks gcWudBeHere, I went on EAD from H1 based on pending AOS (used up all 6 years on my H1). So I have already used once my H1 based on MS degree.

If I leave the country now and to come back reapply for H1, I am hoping I wont be subject to the regular cap but be able to apply for the additional 20,000? is this correct?
 
This is just my analysis

A lot of desi f1 students when about to graduate are worried about h1b cap and go ahead and join a desi consulting company and in the process the cap gets filled up easily with these petitions. It has been a matter of pursuing their careers with the choice they have.

With prolonged OPT, it will encourage students to look for good jobs and also encourage companies to hire OPTs without the botheration of being subhject to cap.

This in turn discourages consulting companies to hoard the students and use up the visas which will be available for promising employees who perform well at their companies on OPT and their employers can take time and apply for h1b.
 
Just a Matter of Supply and Demand

It is indeed a good news for a lot of those who have graduated with a STEM degree in the last 12 to 14 months fearing to be out of status if they do not get the lottery in the 65000 or 20000 H1 quotas and making plans to get back to school just to keep the status.

It is also a good news for future graduates of STEM degrees as they now can have peace for 29 months instead of only 12 months.

But the fact remains that even after 29 months, there is always a possibility for a student to get out of status if she/he does not get approved for a H1 status before the expiry of the extended OPT period. The USCIS has not increased the H1 quota in the last 3 years and it still remains at 65000+20000 whereas we do not have an accurate figure of the number of F-1 students graduating with a STEM degree each semester. Last year, we all know that the quota of 65000 H1 was exhausted on the first business day and the 20000 H1 for Masters Degree holders was filled up by June or July of 2007. We will have to see how many applications are received by USCIS this month and how many are rejected. There would still be some students who probably are close to graduation but extending their study just to buy time and wait to apply for H1 next year.

We cannot be sure if the US is inclined to increasing the quota of H1 in future although it is a matter in consideration. But once the quota of H1 is taken care of, it will then boil down to EB quota for Green Cards. When it comes to the cap on 'Employment Based' green cards, H1s and those who are not on H1's also apply for green cards and their dependents are also counted against the cap.

It is a never ending saga.

IE
 
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Is there any talk of admin fix for EB quota as well? Something along the lines of 29 month for OPT?
The admin fix could very well be the ability to file i485 even if the date is not current and\or not counting dependents in the cap for STEM.
Imm_Exploited said:
Just a Matter of Supply and Demand

It is indeed a good news for a lot of those who have graduated with a STEM degree in the last 12 to 14 months fearing to be out of status if they do not get the lottery in the 65000 or 20000 H1 quotas and making plans to get back to school just to keep the status.

It is also a good news for future graduates of STEM degrees as they now can have peace for 29 months instead of only 12 months.

But the fact remains that even after 29 months, there is always a possibility for a student to get out of status if she/he does not get approved for a H1 status before the expiry of the extended OPT period. The USCIS has not increased the H1 quota in the last 3 years and it still remains at 65000+20000 whereas we do not have an accurate figure of the number of F-1 students graduating with a STEM degree each semester. Last year, we all know that the quota of 65000 H1 was exhausted on the first business day and the 20000 H1 for Masters Degree holders was filled up by June or July of 2007. We will have to see how many applications are received by USCIS this month and how many are rejected. There would still be some students who probably are close to graduation but extending their study just to buy time and wait to apply for H1 next year.

We cannot be sure if the US is inclined to increasing the quota of H1 in future although it is a matter in consideration. But once the quota of H1 is taken care of, it will then boil down to EB quota for Green Cards. When it comes to the cap on 'Employment Based' green cards, H1s and those who are not on H1's also apply for green cards and their dependents are also counted against the cap.

It is a never ending saga.

IE
Click to expand...
 
Does anybody know or read in FAQ whether this scheme is retroactive? If I graduated in 2001 and used up 12 month of OPT time, a retroactive scheme would give me 17 more months of EAD time in lieu of my MS degree.

Such a scheme would be nice as that specific EAD is not tied to anything else except MS degree - contrary to our EB-based EAD that is linked to I-485 (and any problem with I-485 directly hits our EAD)
 
There is a discussion about a hidden change that actually makes the 29 months change pointless
http://www.quantnet.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2622
An F-1 student who drops out of school or does not pursue a full-time course
of study loses status; an F-1 student with OPT who is unemployed for a
significant period should similarly put his status in jeopardy.

Therefore, this rule specifies an aggregate maximum allowed period of
unemployment of 90 days for students on 12-month OPT.

This maximum period increases by 30 days for F-1 students who have an
approved 17-month OPT period. In addition to clarifying the student's status
, this measure allows time for job searches or a break when switching
employers."
Click to expand...

Any idea ?
 
baraider said:
There is a discussion about a hidden change that actually makes the 29 months change pointless
http://www.quantnet.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2622


Any idea ?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it pointless. Yes, you need to be unemployed for less than 120 days (for STEM applicants, 90 for the rest as I understood). Other than that, it is really helpful.
Again, only for STEM applicants, which I guess is most of us.
Also, the companies will have to be working with e-verify, which I suppose most big corporations do.
 
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