03
Jul
2023
Frustrated by lengthy processing times for visas and employment authorization? USCIS offers a solution, but it comes at a price and does not affect your chances of success. With premium processing, USCIS guarantees that it will take adjudicative action on your petition within a shortened time frame. That action must either be an approval notice, READ MORE
28
Apr
2019
USCIS is starting to issue H-1B receipts for petitions that won a lottery number. These receipts will allow those F-1 foreign students working pursuant to their optional practical training (OPT) employment authorization document (EAD) that will expire before October 1, 2019, to extend their EAD until October 1st, unless their petition is denied before then. This READ MORE
29
Jun
2018
In April 2018, USCIS updated its website regarding the employment of F-1 student and it appears to bar F-1 students in the STEM optional practical training (OPT) program from working at third-party locations. In particular, it states: “For instance, the training experience may not take place at the place of business or worksite of the READ MORE
15
May
2018
In April 2018, USCIS revised its website page for Optional Practice Training for STEM students that appears to bar F-1 students working pursuant to their STEM OPT (optional practical training) to be situated at third party sites. The website page states: “For instance, the training experience may not take place at the place of business READ MORE
13
May
2018
USCIS has published a draft of a policy memorandum substantially broadening its definition of unlawful presence for F, M and J nonimmigrants and their dependents, and thereby potentially subjecting far more nonimmigrants to the three or ten-year bars to reentry into the US after their departure. The US immigration laws impose a three or ten-year READ MORE
06
Jun
2016
Under the latest STEM optional practical training (OPT) extension rules that came into effect on May 10, 2016, and which increase the OPT extension program from 17 to 24 months, USCIS added additional requirements. One of the most important of these is the training plan that is to be filed on the Form I-983. Before applying READ MORE
17
May
2016
The new STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) OPT (optional practical training) extension is a 24-month period of temporary training that directly relates to an F-1 student’s program of study in an approved STEM field, and replaces the 17-month STEM OPT extension previously available to certain STEM F-1 students. The 17-month STEM OPT regulations remained in effect READ MORE