Staying past grace period of OPT

J

jabberwock

Registered Users (C)
What are the problems of staying past the 60-day grace period after your OPT expires?

My friend graduated with her Master's and had a job under her OPT, which will expired on Aug 8, 2006 (grace period = Oct 8, 2006). She's looking for another job in the short amount of time that she has, but she's thinking of staying past Oct 8 and continue searching. What sort of problems could she encounter?

I went through a similar situation a quite a few years ago: got a degree, worked under OPT, but I stayed in the US 120 days after my OPT expired. I then found a job that sponsored my H1B. I simply went back to my home country with all the proper H1 paperwork and got the H1B Visa. This was all before 9/11 and SEVIS stuff...

Thanks!
 
When you applied for H1B visa stamp, did you disclose that you violated term of visa ? If not and if they found out, you'll be banned entry to the US for your life time.
Be careful.
 
I'm not sure. The law firm my company used did all the work. Thanks for letting me know. And I guess that answers the question for my friend too.
 
jabberwock said:
I'm not sure. The law firm my company used did all the work. Thanks for letting me know. And I guess that answers the question for my friend too.
Click to expand...
I think you should have filed DS-156 when you applied for H1B visa at consulate. I do not think law firm files even DS-156, so I guess you filled it and filed it.

Anyway, the point is if one overstayed visa, s/he must disclose that fact in DS-156 when s/he applied for visa stamp at consulate, and telling consular officer that s/he overstayed is the most uncomfortable thing to do no matter if overstay is long or short. If overstay is not long, s/he may get visa, but it is always better to have clean record. So, tell your friend, if possible, not to overstay.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks GotPR. I'll pass on the info that she should not overstay. She may go back to her country, get a tourist visa, come back to "visit me" and search for a job meanwhile.

I've been doing some research and found the following (regarding my overstay) immigration law. It doesn't directly apply to me since I didn't stay over 180 days. I still need to find what kind of ban can be given to someone who stays less than 180 days and leaves "voluntarily" (my case).

212(a)(9)(B)

The three-year bar: under INA 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I)("9B1"), aliens who were unlawfully present in the U.S. for over 180 days but less than one year, and who subsequently depart the U.S. voluntarily prior to commencement of removal proceedings, are inadmissible for three years. A departure is considered voluntary for 9B1 purposes if the alien departs either entirely on his/her own or pursuant to a grant of "voluntary departure."

The ten-year bar: under INA 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II)("9B2"), aliens who were unlawfully present in the U.S. for one year or more, and who subsequently depart the U.S., are inadmissible for ten years.
-------------------------

I should clarify to others. If at anytime USCIS finds out of your overstay and requests that you ("involuntary leave"), then it's an automatic 10 year ban, regardless whether you stay more than 180 days, but less than 1 year, or more than 1 year.

Luckily for me, there's also this (not in code, but a comment on an article by a law firm):

------------------------
H. Periods of unlawful presence under 9B are not/not counted in the aggregate. For example, the three-year bar of 9B1 would not apply to an alien who made two prior visits to the United States, accrued 4 months of unlawful presence during each visit, and is now applying for a nonimmigrant visa to make a third visit to the U.S.

---------------------

... I should be OK because I have left and re-entered a few times since then. I'm going to contact my lawyer to clear this up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top