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Thursday, August 13, 2015

OPT 17 Month Stem Extension Breaking News - Revoked or not?

 *Latest News about OPT STEM Extension Here : New OPT STEM Rule *

*UPDATE 10/05/2015* - On Friday US immigration and custom enforcement which is a government body which is responsible for managing the F1 student visa program , submitted a proposed rule to the office of management and budget. No proposal can be completed until the review is done by OMB. We are not sure of how long this review will take but we hope that this should be done by end of this month. 

It is also possible that the proposal may include part of presidential executive action which aims at expanding the degree program and extend time for OPT students to stay and work in USA. This is a long awaited news and a good one. Hopefully the new rule will be updated soon. till then keep checking back this space for more information.


*UPDATE 09/29/2015* -We are getting closer to October and DHS has less time now to re issue the OPT STEM Extension and open it for public comment. We will keep you posted and we are expecting the reply to the petition to be out in a few days. Till then keep checking back or follow us on facebook for latest updates.

*UPDATE 09/11/2015* : All of you who have signed the petition should be receiving the below email from info@mail.whitehouse.gov.

It states - "On September 8th, a petition you signed -- asking the Administration to put in place new OPT STEM rules -- reached 100,000 signatures, the threshold for receiving a White House response.

We'll make sure the appropriate folks from the Administration have a chance to look at the specific requests of your petition and determine how best to respond, and we’ll keep you posted here with updates along the way.
In the meantime, know that the President is committed to fixing our broken immigration system, which includes streamlining and modernizing the legal immigration system for students, entrepreneurs, workers, and families. For more information, visit:www.whitehouse.gov/immigration. "

You would also want to look at my article : H1-B 2017 Visa Prediction 
  
You would also want to look at my article : Best Money Sending Service to India- Online Money Transfers     

Please refer to image below for more information.







Update 9/8/2015 - Great news OPT petition reaches 100,000 signatures. 

 *UPDATE 09/02/2015 : The Petition needs 14,671 more signatures. Don't let it die. Support the Petition by signing here : https://goo.gl/K9vRbQ


 *UPDATE 09/02/2015 : The Petition needs 17,911 more signatures. Don't let it die. Support the Petition by signing here : https://goo.gl/K9vRbQ


*UPDATE 08/27/2015*- The Petition needs 26,665 more signatures. Don't let it die. Support the Petition by signing here : https://goo.gl/K9vRbQ

*UPDATE08/25/2015* -The Petition needs 29,727 more signatures. Support the petition by signing here: https://goo.gl/K9vRbQ


*UPDATE08/20/2015* - WATW ( Washington Alliance of Technology Workers has filed an appeal to the US court of Appeals ( DC Circuit) . Looks like they are looking to stop DHS to re - issue the 2008 rule for STEM OPT Extension. 
(Source - ImmigrationGirl Blog )

Also don't forget to sign the petition :
https://goo.gl/K9vRbQ . They need 37,298 more signatures.


*UPDATE08/16/2015* - There is a petition to propose regulation for extending the 17 month STEM OPT extension. They need 63k more signatures to reach their target of 100,000 by September 13 2015. You can sign the petition here : https://goo.gl/K9vRbQ

There is a breaking news that the federal court has revoked the 17 month OPT  Stem Extension.

The federal court has put a stay on it till February 12, 2016.

A DC Federal judge said that the 2008 DHS rule which allows the F1 Student to stay in US for 17 more months after his 12 months of post completion OPT period is deficient.



The judge mentioned that the deficiency in the process was really serious and this requires OPT Extension to be cancelled or revoked. But the court realized that if this rule is placed in effect immediately then thousands of non immigrant students who are working in USA and are on their F1 Visa would have to depart from US. This would in turn impose a burden on the Tech Sector financially. Therefore the court has put a stay on it till February 2016.

If this decision is imposed then this decision should not impact those who are already on STEM Extension or those who will become eligible till February.

This can prove disastrous and can change the fate of thousands of non immigrant students workers who are working on F1- Visa.

If this rule comes in place then that means:

1) Only one chance to apply your H1-B visa. H1-B visa is a lottery system and currently has a very less quota of 85000 applicants.

2) This will send a lot of students home as they won't have enough permission to work here in USA.

3) Schools which give Day 1 CPT will have high demand because students would want to maintain their status.

Lawsuit was filed by Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a collective bargaining organization that represents  STEM workers.

If this rule comes in place then you will only have 1 year post completion OPT and the court will revoke the 17 months OPT extension.

For now I will say please don't panic as there is a stay on this order till Feb 16 2016.

Since August is going on right now , the Department of Homeland Security will have sufficent time to take a decision on the same.

I will keep you posted as soon as I get more information. Good Luck!

If you have something to add to it , do leave a comment below . Don't forget to like our facebook page for latest updates. Also follow us on Twitter.

You would also want to look at my article : H1-B 2017 Visa Prediction

Labels: 17 month OPT stem Extension Revoked,Opt stem extension cancel,opt stem extension vacated, court notice opt stem extension revoked , opt stem extension breaking news

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3 comments:

  1. Wat if i go for spring intake jan ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wat would be my opt period if decision doesnt cme till feb ?
    are these details mentioned on visa?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Harsh - Please don't panic for now. We will have more news coming in maybe as we move along this year. Hope all goes well. But for now the court has put a stay on the order.

    ReplyDelete