Students wishing to obtain a work permit in the United States may lose their legal status in the country

Students who are in the United States on an F-1 visa who applied for an H-1B work visa risk being in the status of illegally present in the country if October 1 continues to work and later (if there are no other legal grounds for work).

Фото: Depositphotos

The increased demand for immigration benefits creates a heavy load and significantly increases the processing time for requests in the USCIS, and therefore US Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that may do not have time to make decisions for all F1 student requests to change the status of H-1B to October 1 2018.

USCIS rules allow an F-1 student who has filed an H-1B petition in a timely manner requesting a change of status from October 1 to maintain the F-1 status and current US work permit until September 30. It is called “Cap-gap” and provides an opportunity to work legally in the interim period before the legal change of status.

The “cap-gap” begins when the F1 status and work permit expire—for timely applicants, these deadlines are legal extend to September 30. However, October 1 is considered the requested starting date based on H-1B, if the petition was not rejected before that date.

Temporarily suspending the processing of certain types of priority H-1B applications allowed USCIS to allocate additional resources to review Cap-gap cases, if the H-1B petition is not considered until October 1 or after this date, the F-1 student is no longer entitled to work on based on “Cap-gap”.

However, an F-1 student is usually entitled legally stay in the United States while the status change petition is in standby mode. In this case, the student will not fall into the category of illegally present in the United States, if he does not work without permission.

In cases where an F-1 student who is awaiting a status change has other type of work permit (for example, I-765 with valid dates), which continues after 30 September, it can continue to work in the United States legally.

USCIS is committed to fairly and effectively review petitions, applications, and requests in each case to determine if they comply with all the standards required by law, regulation, and policy.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How to get a visa for talented people and move to the USA

Personal experience: how a Belarusian in 16 years received a full scholarship to study in the US

Personal experience: how to move to the United States on a visa for talented people

USCIS changed the way in which the duration of an illegal presence in the US is calculated

How to get an American visa if you have your own business

US companies want to increase H-1B work visas

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.