The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced on May 11, 2012, that they have expanded the list of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) degree programs. New STEM-Designated Programs Until this revision, CIP degree codes ending in "99" were not designated as STEM degree programs. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now proposing [...]
Created in 2002, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is used to track and monitor foreign students (F-1 visa holders) and exchange visitors (J-1 visa holders), as well as their accompanying dependents (F-2 and J-2 visa holders). While SEVIS has streamlined many formerly cumbersome data reporting requirements and improved information accuracy, there are [...]
Late spring and early summer are generally busy period for recent foreign college graduates as far as employment immigration is concerned. On one hand, foreign college graduates are either applying for their initial term OPT, their 17-month STEM extensions (if they qualify) or their H-1B work visas. Our office fields many questions from prospective or [...]
We wrote in September about the gap in expected revenue by USCIS following the filing fee increase of Summer 2007. We noted that the agency has a $282 million shortfall in expected revenues. As a result of the announced 2007 fee increase, USCIS saw a surge in applications and hiring in 2007, ahead of a hefty [...]
H-1B Duration and Limits By law, the maximum duration of stay in any H status is six years. As a result, if a foreign employee held one or more kinds of H status, or held L status, then the total period spent in the U.S. in all of these statuses are added together to determine how [...]
In many areas around the U.S. driving is as essential as being able to read. In our practice we face constantly foreign nationals who have been denied (correctly or incorrectly) a driver’s license due to their inability to show a certain document. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (”ICE”) division has released a guide targeted to [...]
The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (”ICE”) has released a supplemental guidance sheet with respect to gap-cap extensions available to holders of F-1 status who work pursuant to their optional practical training and who are beneficiaries of a cap-subject H-1B work visa petition. The guidance sheet is helpful in not only describing in more detail what [...]
The Optional Practical Training (OPT) program allows foreign students on F-1 visa to work for 12 (or up to 29 months, for holders of STEM degrees). The 12 (or 29) month period allows many students to apply for an H-1B work visa. Many employers (and OPT holders alike) are unaware of what happens when the [...]