STEM OPT Extensions for Employees

Global HR has developed a process to facilitate STEM OPT Extensions for eligible Georgia Tech employees. We will work with you, your supervisor and your departmental HR representative to ensure all parties have the information necessary to complete Form I-983.

If you are a Georgia Tech F-1, these forms are in addition to the forms required by OIE.

August 8 is the Deadline to Apply to Add 7 Months to a 17-Month STEM OPT Extension

From USCIS, 08/01/2016

If you currently have a 17-month STEM OPT extension, you may apply to add 7 months to your STEM OPT period. If you want to apply for this 7-month extension, you must properly file your Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization (with the required fee and signature) on or before August 8, 2016. USCIS will deny applications filed after August 8, 2016.

You may apply to add 7 months to your 17-month STEM OPT period if:

• You are currently participating in STEM OPT based on a 17-month extension;
• You request the additional 7-month period by filing a new Form I-765 between May 10, 2016 and August 8, 2016, and within 60 days of the date your designated school official’s enters the recommendation for the 24-month OPT extension into your SEVIS record;
• You have at least 150 days of valid employment authorization remaining on your 17-month STEM OPT period on the date you properly file your new Form I-765; and
• You, your designated school official, and your employer meet all the 24-month STEM OPT extension requirements.

For more information on the STEM OPT extension, visit the USCIS Optional Practical Training Extension for STEM Students (STEM OPT) page.

STEM OPT Extension E-forms Now Available!

Attention employees eligible for a STEM OPT Extension: STEM OPT Extension e-forms are now available in iStart. 

If you have already completed the Intent to Pursue STEM Extension and it has been approved, you may complete the remaining forms. If you've not completed the Intent to Pursue STEM Extension e-form and your current OPT expires in the next 6 months, please begin the e-forms as soon as possible.

If you are a Georgia Tech F-1, these forms are in addition to the forms required by OIE.

DHS Seeks Additional Extension for STEM OPT Rule Beyond Feb. 12, 2016

From GreenbergTraurig, 12/31/2015

In August 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia determined that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) improperly promulgated the regulation allowing the 17-month STEM extension for optional practical training (OPT) because the regulation was not subject to notice and comment rulemaking, which requires DHS to consider public comments before making the regulation final. However, the judge did rule to keep the STEM OPT regulation in place through Feb. 12, 2016, during which time DHS was to submit the regulation for notice and comment by the public and interested stakeholders. The regulation was kept in place so that the students utilizing a STEM extension would not be forced to leave the country or left without work authorization.

On Oct. 19, 2015, DHS issued the long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the F-1 OPT regulation to allow for an additional 24 months of optional practical training if the student has earned a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).  A significant amount of changes were proposed in the new regulation, including how STEM fields are defined, the requirement of a Mentoring and Training Plan, additional safeguards for U.S. workers in related fields, school accreditation and employer site visits, and compliance requirements.

As a result of the Oct. 19, 2015, NPRM, DHS received over 50,500 comments from interested stakeholders. Last week, the agency asked the U.S. District Court to prolong the stay through May 10, 2016, to keep the STEM regulation in place to allow additional time for it to review the overwhelming amount of comments received. DHS also stated that it needs additional time to train officers on the new STEM OPT requirements.

If the District Court vacates the original 2008 OPT extension rule allowing for the STEM extension before DHS publishes the final regulation, F-1 students seeking a STEM extension will be prevented from doing so during any gap between Feb. 12, 2016, and the time the new rule is published. 

We will continue to monitor the progress of the NPRM and provide updates as they become available.

DHS Proposes Changes Related to On-the-Job Training Program for STEM Students

From ICE, 10/16/2015

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today proposed changes to its regulations that would strengthen and enhance the process for foreign students with science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degrees from a U.S. college or university to get practical training experience in the United States.  The enhancement of this regulation was announced as a part of President Obama’s November Executive Actions. 

The optional practical training program, or OPT, allows nonimmigrant international students and new graduates to extend their time in the U.S. on their F-1 student visa status to gain on-the-job-learning for up to a year.  The proposed rule would allow certain F-1 STEM students to extend their OPT period by 24 months with the appropriate mentoring and training by employers.  The proposed rule would also improve and increase oversight over OPT STEM extensions.  

“Our nation will benefit from keeping international students here, educated in U.S. colleges and universities here while they receive additional training, rather than sending them out of the country,” said Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Sarah R. Saldaña. “At the same time, U.S. employers will benefit from the increased ability to rely on the skills acquired by U.S. educated-STEM students, as well as their knowledge of markets in their home countries.”

By increasing access to OPT for STEM students, the proposed regulations will help U.S. colleges and universities remain globally competitive in attracting international students in STEM fields.  It also reforms the program to better ensure that practical training opportunities are designed to meet student needs, while requiring greater accountability of employers and students. 

The proposed rule aims to ensure F-1 students gain valuable practical STEM experience through practical training that supplements knowledge gained in their academic studies.  The rule also seeks to improve and increase the oversight of STEM OPT by requiring the implementation of formal mentoring and training plans by employers and by adding wage and other protections for OPT students and U.S. workers.  The proposed rule would only permit STEM OPT extensions to F-1 students with degrees from accredited schools, and whose employers are enrolled in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ E-verify employment eligibility verification program.  DHS encourages comments on this proposed rule; public comment will be open through November 18, 2015.

For more information and to submit formal input on the proposed rule, visit the Federal Register.

Georgia Tech's E-Verify Number

Attention Employees in F-1 OPT Status

If you are applying for a 17-month STEM extension you will need Georgia Tech's E-Verify number to apply. You must complete a Request for E-Verify Information e-form in iStart to obtain the number and, if applicable, a confirmation letter for your school. 

https://istart.gatech.edu/

If you have any questions, please email immigration@ohr.gatech.edu

USCIS Clarifies Rules for 17 Month STEM OPT Extension

From Council for Global Immigration, 10/22/2013

USCIS has issued a memo clarifying the rules regarding 17 month OPT extensions for F-1 students with STEM degrees. The memo states that F-1 students may apply for the 17 month extension even if they are yet to complete their thesis or equivalent requirement for the relevant STEM degree.

To read the USCIS memo, click here.

DHS Plans Changes for H-4 Spouses

SHRM, 07/22/2013

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s spring 2013 regulatory agenda, released July 3, 2013, contains 52 items from the department’s immigration-related agencies, including proposed rules clarifying Form I-9 violations, providing work authorization to H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders, renewing the H-1C nurse visa and amending regulations governing the calculation of prevailing wages under the H-2B guest worker program.

Final Rules

A few rules that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be implementing in the coming months are relevant to HR professionals. These include:

·         By October 2013, CBP will set the eligibility requirements and the application procedures and fees for the U.S. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Card Program. The program will enable eligible travelers to use fast-track immigration lanes in cooperating Asia-Pacific nations.

·         The extension of U.S. immigration law to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by December 2013.

·         A July 2014 final rule implementing the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act, which will allow the spouses and children of lawful permanent residents to live and work in the United States while waiting for a green card.

·         The finalization of interim regulations, by July 2014, precluding employers from filing duplicate petitions on behalf of the same foreign temporary worker subject to the annual H-1B numerical cap.

·         A final rule, planned for July 2014, implementing the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act, which created the H-1C nonimmigrant nurse visa in 1999 in response to the shortage of qualified nurses in many regions of the United States. To qualify for the H-1C visa, 500 of which are granted annually, a nurse must be licensed or have obtained a nursing degree in the U.S. and must pass the NCLEX-RN exam. Nurses with an H-1C visa may work in the United States for up to three years. USCIS stopped accepting new H-1C petitions after Dec. 21, 2009, when Congress failed to reauthorize the program.

Proposed Rules

USCIS proposes to extend employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of principal H-1B visa holders who have begun the process of seeking lawful permanent-resident status through employment. “Allowing the eligible class of H-4 dependent spouses to work encourages professionals with high-demand skills to remain in the country and help spur the innovation and growth of U.S. companies,” USCIS said.

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is scheduled for October 2013 proposing to amend regulations that clarify certain Form I-9 paperwork failures and violations. According to the agenda, this proposed rule would define a substantive violation and a technical or procedural failure and delineate the circumstances in which an employer may be subject to penalties or not, due to a good-faith attempt to comply when completing the form.

Another rule planned for October 2013 would allow students on F-1 visas with degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics to take advantage of a 17-month optional practical training extension to gain experience in those fields.

And USCIS proposes to amend its regulations affecting high-skilled workers from Chile and Singapore (H-1B1), Australia (E-3), the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CW-1), and outstanding professors and researchers (EB-1) by November 2013.

The rule would reconcile the regulations for these classifications with existing regulations for other similarly situated classifications “by removing unnecessary hurdles that place such workers at a disadvantage when compared to similarly situated workers in other visa classifications,” according to DHS.

President Obama Voices Support for Employment-Based Immigration Reforms as Senate Begins Work on the Details

From Fragomen.com, 01/29/2013

Envisioning the United States as “a magnet for the best and brightest,” President Obama today voiced his support for the tenets underlying a bipartisan Senate proposal for immigration reform, but vowed his own reform bill if Congress cannot act quickly. 

In a list of comprehensive reform principles released after the President's speech, the White House called for specific reforms to the employment-based immigration system, including more immigrant visa numbers, the elimination of per-country quotas on immigrant visas, new visa programs for investors and entrepreneurs and a plan to “staple” green cards to the diplomas of foreign nationals who earn a U.S. advanced degree in a STEM field. 

The President’s address and the White House framework followed a week of intense immigration activity in the Senate that included key proposals on employment-based programs. On Monday, a bipartisan group of eight Senators unveiled a framework for comprehensive reform, setting forth the guiding principles of an eventual Senate bill. Another Senate group today released a slate of detailed proposals to enhance the H-1B and employment-based permanent residence programs. 

The Comprehensive Framework 

The Senate framework for comprehensive reform is based on four pillars: a “tough but fair” path to citizenship for the undocumented population that is contingent on enhanced border security; a reform of the legal immigration system; the creation of a fraud-resistant employment verification system; and improvements in employment-based temporary programs.

Without going into great detail, the Senate framework calls for streamlined permanent residence for holders of U.S. advanced degrees in STEM fields and the reduction of backlogs in the employment-based permanent residence system generally. A plan for lower-skilled foreign workers would require sponsoring employers to demonstrate recruitment and non-displacement of U.S. workers. The framework also calls for a stronger employment verification system, including a “non-forgeable electronic means” to check the status and identity of new hires. 

The plan was drafted by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). 

The I-Squared Act: A Detailed Proposal for Employment-Based Reform 

Another bipartisan Senate group has released a detailed proposal to reform the employment-based temporary and permanent residence systems. The Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 (the I-Squared Act) is sponsored by Senators Rubio, Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chris Coons (D-DE). Key components of the bill include: 

H-1B reform. The I-Squared Act would increase the H-1B cap to a baseline of 115,000. A market-based escalator provision would allow for additional H-1B numbers up to a maximum of 300,000 in years when demand for the cap is high, and reductions in additional numbers when demand is low. The bill would create an unlimited H-1B cap exemption for holders of U.S. advanced degrees by removing the current ceiling of 20,000. 

The bill seeks to reduce hurdles in H-1B extensions and job changes by making it harder for USCIS to deny the extension of previously approved petitions and giving terminated H-1B workers a sixty-day transition period to find new employment. 

H-4 spouses would be eligible for employment authorization. 

The H-1B training and education fee would be increased to $2500 for sponsoring employers with more than 25 employees. These funds would be used to promote STEM education and retraining of U.S. workers. 

Nonimmigrant visa revalidation. The bill would reinstate the ability of E, H, L, O and P nonimmigrants to revalidate their visas from within the United States and avoid lengthy visa processing waits abroad. 

Employment-based permanent residence reforms. The bill would reform the employment-based immigrant visa quota system by allowing for the recapture and roll-over of unused immigrant visas from prior years. Though the bill would add no new immigrant visa numbers, it would create quota exemptions for dependents of principal employment-based immigrants, holders of U.S. STEM advanced degrees, individuals of extraordinary ability and outstanding professors and researchers. The bill would also eliminate annual per-country quotas on employment-based immigrant visas.

The bill would end the current requirement that foreign students at U.S. universities prove they intend to return to their home country at the end of an academic program. 

Next Steps for Comprehensive Reform 

Though there is increasing momentum for a fast track to comprehensive reform, it is likely to take several months or more for a bill to move through the legislative process. 

The Senate will now begin the work of drafting a detailed comprehensive reform bill, expected by March. The Senate Judiciary Committee is reportedly planning to hold a hearing on immigration reform as early as February 13. The I-Squared Act could be included in the Senate bill, but its favorable business immigration provisions would likely face opposition and potential amendments from legislators who support heightened restrictions on the H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrant programs. In past years, such proposals have included wage rules for L-1 employers and recruitment obligations extended to all H-1B employers. 

If a reform bill is passed in the Senate, it will move to the House of Representatives, where it faces a tough battle. There is already vocal opposition from immigration hardliners in the House, who object to plans for the legalization of unauthorized foreign nationals.

STEM Bill Passes House of Representatives

From Fragomen.com, 12/06/2012

Smith STEM Bill Passes House of Representatives but is Blocked in Senate

Senate Democrats have blocked the STEM Jobs Act, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith’s (R-TX) bill to make 50,000 immigrant visas available to foreign nationals with U.S. advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields who have received a job offer from a U.S. employer. The bill passed the House of Representatives last week, but was not expected to overcome Democratic opposition to a provision in the bill that would eliminate the Diversity Visa green card lottery and reallocate its 50,000 immigrant visa numbers to the proposed STEM program. The White House also voiced its opposition to the bill, issuing a statement of administration policy favoring comprehensive immigration reform over the more narrowly-tailored STEM proposal.

An earlier version of the STEM Jobs Act was taken up by the House in September and received majority bipartisan support, but was defeated because it was considered under a procedure that required a two-thirds vote. The latest bill differed in two key respects from the earlier version. It contained a provision to allow unused STEM immigrant visa numbers to be carried forward between Fiscal Years 2013 and 2017. It would also have expanded the V visa program, which allows the spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents to enter and remain in the United States while awaiting availability of an immigrant visa number after their permanent residence case has been pending for one year.