OPT now for 29 months?

[Prateek Bhatia]

This - 3 months to find a job otherwise you are out - thing is scary. If someone finds anything more about it please let us know. International students can't afford to spend $50-60K and then not get a chance to make some of it back.

 

[sixthday]

Yeah. School has finally given a formal announcement regarding the 90 days of unemployment. Looks like it might even apply for those who have already had more than 90 days of unemployment.

Bye Bye America!!!:tiphat:

Periods of Unemployment
During Any Initial 12-Month Period of Post-Completion OPT
(Information Updated April 10, 2008)

The new regulations create two periods of post-completion Optional Practical
Training (OPT): (1) an initial 12-month period that is available to almost
all F-1 students after completion of a program of study and (2) an
additional 17-month period that is available only to F-1 students in STEM
fields who work for employers who participate in the federal E-Verify
Program. The information on this page applies only to the initial 12-month
period of post-completion OPT.

The regulations place a limit on the number of days students can be
unemployed during initial periods of post-completion OPT. This affects not
only students who may become unemployed at some time after beginning
employment but also how long students may search for an OPT job.

Applicable to:
All F-1 students who are currently authorized for an initial 12-month period
of post-completion OPT

All F-1 students who will be authorized for an initial 12-month period of
post-completion OPT in the future

Old Regulations:
This topic was not addressed in previous regulations.

New Regulations:
Students may not be unemployed for a total of more than 90 days during any
initial 12-month period of post-completion OPT.

Reporting
Requirement:
Students authorized to engage in post-completion OPT must report to the GW
International Services Office (ISO) any (1) change in legal name, (2) change
in address, or (3) interruption in employment. The ISO must report this
information to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
[Note: These reporting requirements were in the previous regulations and
continue to be in the current regulations. They are therefore not new. What
is new is the 90-day limit on unemployment.]

ISO Evaluation:
This means that you must add together the number of days you are unemployed
during the time your Employment Authorization Card (Form I-766) indicates
you can work. If the number of days of unemployment ever reaches 90, the
regulations indicate that you will not be considered to be in lawful F-1
status and will therefore not be eligible to work on OPT even if you later
find a job.

This is probably most significant to students who do not have an OPT job
when their cards indicate they may legally begin work. If you find yourself
in that situation, it means that you must find a job that qualifies for OPT
and begin work in that job within 90 days or you will not be in lawful F-1
status.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

This probably will put more pressure on MFE programs that aren't posting their placement stats. Those who do usually measure it within 3 months of graduation. With this 3 months rule, now prospective students would demand to know how many grads find jobs within 3 months.

It hasn't been a problem before but now, it takes longer to find a job. It takes months to get the offer signed. There will be a sense of urgency among soon-to-graduates to find jobs before their graduations. You can't just casually look in your last month. They have to do it in their first or second semester now.

 

[sixthday]

I got updates from NAFSA.org. A little better news:

Good news for the 90 days unemployment rule:
Key point:
1. SEVP is not planning to apply the unemployment provision to any student whose OPT was approved before April 8, 2008.

2. For regular post-completion OPT, the employment does NOT have to paid employment. It can be self-employed, interning or volunteering in a position directly related to the academic field.

3. For the 17-month STEM extension, employment must be traditional paid employment.


Guess all of us will be self-employed....


Original article:


www.nafsa.org

April 11, 2008

During a meeting on April 11, 2008 with NAFSA and other stakeholders, SEVP provided some guidance on the OPT rule.

Please note: the answers were verbal and are subject to change. SEVP indicated that it plans to provide further written DSO Operating Instructions, including some of the information below, no later than Friday,April 18, 2008.

17-month STEM extension
SEVIS 5.8 will be rolled out on Friday, April 18, 2008 and will include functionality to request a 17-month extension for STEM graduates currently on post-completion OPT.
SEVP has posted the SEVIS Release 5.8 Training Slides - F/M Users which includes more information on functionality and instructions for recommending a 17-month STEM extension in SEVIS 5.8.

Unemployment provisions
NAFSA was told that SEVP is not planning to apply the unemployment provision to any student whose OPT was approved before April 8, 2008. NAFSA expects this to be clarified in the written Operating Instructions that SEVP plans
to post no later than April 18, 2008.

SEVP indicated that days of unemployment will be counted from either the start date requested (no later than 60 days after program end date) or the date the employment authorization is adjudicated, whichever is later.

SEVP further indicated that ICE may consider tolling the days for those students whose EAD was approved but not received (e.g. lost in the mail). For example, if a student has to re-apply for a duplicate EAD because the first was lost in the mail, ICE may take into account the date the duplicate EAD was issued. Regarding unpaid employment, SEVP said:

For regular post-completion OPT, the employment does NOT have to paid employment. Therefore, a student who is self-employed (including performance majors with regular “gigs”), interning or volunteering in a position directly related to the academic field would be considered “employed” for

the purposes of OPT employment. For the 17-month STEM extension, employment must be traditional paid employment.

 

[pardasani]

H1 B numbers this year

Total applications ~163,000
Advanced degree application ~31,000 (cap is 20,000)

here is a link

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/us...nnel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

and the text

USCIS Releases Preliminary Number Of FY 2009 H-1B Cap Filings

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a preliminary number of nearly 163,000 H-1B petitions received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. More than 31,200 of those petitions were for the advanced degree exemption.

USCIS expects next week it will conduct the computer-generated random selection process, beginning with the selection of the 20,000 petitions under the advanced degree exemption. Those petitions not selected under the advanced degree exemption will join the random selection process for the regular 65,000 cap.
USCIS will reject, and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, unless found to be a duplicate. USCIS will handle duplicate filings in accordance with the interim final rule published on March 24, 2008 in the Federal Register.
USCIS will provide regular updates as the processing of FY 2009 H-1B cap cases continues.

 

[rudraguhabiswas]

This probably will put more pressure on MFE programs that aren't posting their placement stats. Those who do usually measure it within 3 months of graduation. With this 3 months rule, now prospective students would demand to know how many grads find jobs within 3 months.

This is so true.. going on your advice in some posts i read, i called up one of the schools i got into and asked them for stats.
They just cant come up with any figures. I was shunted from one department to the other. Finally the career management center told me that "most people find employment, but we dont have specific employments stats for the financial eng. program.

That talk was a very big confidence booster for me.:D

 

[Andy Nguyen]

One of the requirements for the new rule is that the employer must register with the E-verify program. I couldn't find any source listing which bank participates in that program. The list here does not have any bank. If you read online, there are many opinion about this program. What happens if your employer is not in this program.
Here is the list Smart Business Pilot Program Search Database

 

[vkaul]

What happens if a PhD in engineering actually takes up a job in quant. Will he still be eligible for 17 month extension or it will be considered that he is working outside his area and therefore will not be eligible.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Does this OPT rule help in today market? Do they actually provide more time for graduates to find a job?