In you previous Conference Calls you did mention that you did post videos on USCIS accredited Universities in USA. If a person is doing an MS or MBA in US he/she needs to do it from those accredited universities inorder for the educational evaluation to be done to achieve EB2 Status.Right now I have a 3 years of Bachelors degree from India and do not qualify for EB2 and I am in EB3. I wanted to do an MS or MBA in USA.
Video Transcript
The US Department of Education maintains a list of state level agencies who can accredit programs and your university should be able to tell you who has credentials or accredited them or their programs. More...
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
If I may verify the processing times involved in NIW. Since it falls under EB2 category, I am assuming it may be a long time before I can get my EAD card and be able to change employers. Also, I want to confirm if there could be issues if I change employers during the process - If so, I'd prefer to change my current employer before starting with it.
You can change employers any time if you are a self-applicant and will continue to work in your stated area of national interest. But NIW priority date will take the same time as a normal EB-2 application does. See: http://www.immigration.com/visa-bulletin under employment-based category 2.
1. How do I apply for F-1 OPT?
2. How do I get a 17-month STEM extension of my post-completion OPT?
1. Once you receive a recommendation for post-completion OPT from your Designated School Official (DSO) to pursue OPT, you must apply for an employment authorization document (EAD) with USCIS within 30 days. Additionally, you may file up to 90 days prior to your program end-date and not later than 60 days after your program end date.
2. If you have completed a qualifying Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) degree, and you are currently in an approved post-completion OPT period based on a designated STEM degree, you may be eligible to apply for a 17-month STEM extension of your post-completion OPT. For a STEM degree to qualify, it must appear on the STEM Designated Degree Program List. If you want to apply for a STEM extension, you must file for an extension of your EAD with USCIS before your current OPT work authorization expires. USCIS recommends that you file 90 days before the expiration of your OPT.
For further information visit the USCIS page on F-1 OPT requirements
As part of our Curricular Practical Training (CPT), I completed my summer internship with a company on 2nd of the September. So the formal procedure for extending the work is to apply again for the new CPT but somehow my second CPT delayed and got approved on 28th of September. Between 3rd and 28th for around three weeks, company asked me to work and I did. At the time I was not aware of the consequences but now I am in a great trouble. What do I do?
You have two choices that I can see: apply for reinstatement or go outside USA and reapply for a visa.
Q. I am a student graduating in December with my Masters degree. I have an offer from an university. I understand that universities apply for exempt-H1B. I also understand that exempt H1B's cannot be transferred to non-exempt H1B's.
Will I be able to work in the period from April to October 1st with the private company, when my non-exempt H1B is still in process? Will accepting this offer be a problem if i want to move to a private firm later?
Ans. The regulations seem not to address this situation. If I were to decide purely based upon the language of the regs, I would guess that you can work.
But, my GUESS also is, somewhere along the line, CIS will clarify that you cannot work under these circumstances. The new regs were put into place to eliminate gap in the employment that occurs when a student and their employer confront the gap in employment between expiration of the F-1 EAD and October 1st - start date of the H-1. This may not be applicable to universities who are quota exempt. In your case, you will be working for a private employer while the H-1 is pending through the university. Tough call as far as I can see.
Do note, I have not spent a lot of time thinking this issue through. So you should ask your employer's lawyers to give an opinion in writing.
Q. Also will it be possible for me to request the university to apply for a non-exempt visa for me? Is that an option?
Ans. This would be an option if you were actually not working for the university, but with an unaffiliated entity. I do not see how the university can apply for a non-exempt H-1.