Stay tuned...........

The Homeland Security Department asked the White House OMB on March 31, 2008 to clear the interim final rule to publish in the federal register to extend OPT for 17 months. This is an interim final rule and as soon as it is published it will take effect. This means the the OPT period will be 29 months for certain F-1 students in OPT: current 12 plus 17 month extension.

Details will be posted as soon as it is out!

April fool????

Okay, I wanted to elaborate on this today since lot of you were thinking that is was an April fool's message when I posted this yesterday! But this NOT an April fool joke!!!

- The Homeland Security Department asked the White House OMB on March 31, 2008 to clear the interim final rule to publish in the federal register to extend OPT for 17 months. This is an interim final rule and as soon as it is published it will take effect. This means that the OPT period will be 29 months for certain F-1 students in OPT: current 12 plus 17 month extension.

- Those currently seeking H-1B may not be able to participate in the FY 2009 H-1B cap filing. However, since their OPT is likely to be extended for 17 months, they will have a sufficient time to participate in FY 2010 H-1B cap petitions. The details have to be announced as to who will be the "qualified" OPT students to take advantage of this upcoming OPT extension rule.

- There is a regulation even at this time that gives an authority for the Homeland Security Secretary to exercise a discretion, if the Secretary chooses to do so, and consider the OPT students "in lawful stay period" up through October 1 if the OPT files the H-1B petition before the cap is reached and while their F-1 status remained in status including 60-day grace period. However, this new policy is a juicier and more flexible option for the OPT students....  I will confirm on this one!

- This rule is the product of the persistent lobbying efforts by the business leaders and their lobby group. Bill Gates deserves a good credit for this good news. These business leaders pressured the Senate leaders at the end of last year to take action by the Homeland Security Department Secretary. It was Senator Norm Coleman's legislative bill to increase the OPT to 29 months. The magic "29-month" OPT proposal in these business leaders' idea is intended to allow the OPT students not to face the deadly H-1B cap filing problems on April 1 in the future, which has given the OPTs a tremendous hardship, both emotionally and physically. Hats-off to the business leaders including higher learning institution leaders.

I will post more details once available but for now let's keep our fingers crossed & stay tuned!

GOOD NEWS !!!!

Extension of Optional Practical Training Visa Time Period

Anticipated that the Department of Homeland Security will publish a rule extending the Optional Practical Training ("OPT") visa time period from 12 months to 29 months. SIFMA has been advocating for this extension as part of a broader visa reform effort seeking to facilitate movement and immigration of highly skilled workers. At this time, it is anticipated that the OPT extension may be limited to those with STEM degrees (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and may also require employers to participate in the government's e-verify program. It is unclear whether the rule proposal will be published for notice and comment or will be an interim final rule, but it is likely that SIFMA will comment if it has the opportunity to do so. Although SIFMA supports extension of the OPT time period, it may comment on two aspects of the anticipated proposal: (1) limiting the category of degree holders will limit the usefulness of the OPT extension for the securities industry; and (2) requiring participation in e-verify program is controversial because it is reportedly not very accurate since it is based on limited information.

In general, OMB has up to 90 days to review such initiatives and either approve them for publication in the Federal Register, send them back for revision, or reject them. Since the rule was submitted as an interim final rule, the effective date can be whatever date is published in the Federal Register even before the period for public comment closes.

Firm details on the rule are not available, but it is generally believed that it may significantly alter the F-1 OPT program.

In Addition to that, Unless there is emergency involved, such review can take from 30 days to 90 days. At this time there are no details about the rule. One key question involves the scope of "certain qualified" OPT students that will be covered for the 17-month extension. Aside from this rule, there are currently bills in the Congress that also propose the extension of OPT somewhat in different context. Therefore, until the OMB review is completed and published in the federal register, the parameters of covered OPT are uncertain at this point but we should know about it soon!