In the past, USCIS had been somewhat flexible with student status and filing for employment optional practical training work authorization (OPT). More recently, USCIS has been closing those gaps and enforcing the eligibility requirements and filing deadlines more strictly. With this more stringent and literal implementation of the rules, it is imperative that foreign students, [...]
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 [...]
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced that they have expanded the list of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) degree programs. The expanded list includes fields such as Neuroscience, Medical Informatics, Pharmaceutics and Drug Design, Mathematics and Computer Science. See the updated list of all STEM degree programs. New STEM-Designated Programs The new [...]
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 [...]