Re: Hej, ju albstudent ne US, mblidhuni te qajme hallet.
New Regulations for F-1 Practical Training
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service published new regulations for the F-1 student category on Wednesday, December 11, 2002. There are significant changes to the Practical Training category that take effect January 1, 2003.
***(These regulations apply to F-1 students currently in the United States and any new F-1 student who enters the United States on or after January 1, 2003).
A student is eligible for 12 months of practical training for EACH change to a higher educational level. For example, a student in F-1 status who enters as a Bachelor's degree student is eligible for up to 12 months of practical training upon completion of the Bachelor's and then ANOTHER 12 months upon completion of the next higher degree (e.g. Master's).
It is still true that a student who does a year or more of full-time curricular practical training is ineligible for optional practical training.
Optional Practical Training (OPT): Students become eligible for practical training after having been enrolled on a full-time basis, for one full academic year. A student may submit an application for authorization to engage in optional practical training up to 90 days prior to being enrolled for one full academic year, provided that the period of employment does not begin until after completion of the full academic year.
Optional practical training must be requested PRIOR to the completion of all course requirements for the degree or prior to the completion of the course of study. A student must complete all practical training within a 14 month period following completion of study.
What this means: students can no longer wait until the 60 day period following graduation to file an OPT application. Instead the OPT application MUST be submitted to INS Vermont prior to the completion date of the semester for which the student is graduating. So, for students graduating in Fall 2002, the degree conferral date is January 10, 2003, which becomes the date by which the OPT application must be received at INS Vermont.
If the faculty advisor uses an earlier date on the Advisor's Recommendation Form other than January 10, 2003, (which is the date we add to the I-538) then any student filing an OPT application as of January 1, 2003 must submit it to INS so that is received no later than the completion date on the I-538.
Note that the start date of OPT can still be as late as 60 days following completion of the course of study. It's the filing of the application that must happen no later than the completion date.
There may be some December 2002 graduates in F-1 status who thought they could hold off applying for OPT until late January or even February. As of January 1, 2003, that is NO LONGER THE CASE. So, if you are a December 2002 graduate and have been delaying filing an optional practical training application, you should be starting the application process AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.