Approvals

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Service Center Operations

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Cap-Gap To qualify for the cap-gap extension an F-1 student must have an H-

1B petition timely filed on his or her behalf that requests a change of

status to H-1B with an effective date of October 1, 2013. 

Timely filed means:

Filed before the current D/S authorization expires; and

During the open H-1B filing period, which starts April 1st.

Employment is only authorized during the cap-gap period if the

student was already authorized OPT at the time the H-1B petition

was filed.

Service Center Operations

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Cap-Gap, cont. Students cannot depart the United States during the cap-gap

period and return in F-1 status.

When an H-1B petition is denied, revoked, or withdrawn and a student wants to remain in F-1 status:

Students may be eligible to file for post-completion OPT during the cap-gap period and the 60 day departure period.

Students may be eligible to file for the STEM OPT extension during the cap-gap period as long as they do so while the H-1B petition is still pending.

When a petitioner withdraws the job offer students need to verify, through the petitioner, that the H-1B petition is also withdrawn/revoked or risk changing to H-1B status October 1st.

Service Center Operations

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CLAIMS-SEVIS Interface

Each year some students, who are the beneficiary of an H-1B change of status petition, are terminated in SEVIS. This is due to CLAIMS not updating correctly and showing the change of status effective as of the date of approval.

CLAIMS has been modified to reduce the number of occurrences.

SEVP runs sweeps to look for this problem.

Sweeps only work when the student’s SEVIS number is included on the H-1B petition.

Service Center Operations

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30 Day RuleStudents applying for post-completion OPT must file

their application with USCIS within 30 days of the DSO entering the post-completion OPT

recommendation into the student’s SEVIS record.

Do not confuse the date the DSO enters the OPT recommendation into a student’s SEVIS record with

the date the I-20 is issued or signed.

They are not the same.