OPT to H1B transition - Plz help!

[sprint123]

Hello all,

I am doing my first year residency in OPT status and planning to apply for H1B. I was wondering about the 17-month extension and the E-verify system. My University is not under E-verify program....My question is can we push the PD/Chair to enforce E-verfify program so that we could get the 17-month extension before applying to H1B visa.

I would greatly appreciate if anybody could throw some light on this issue. Is anybody else in the same boat?

Many thanks

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[Teee]

the intl student office here said that medicine is not one of the fields that qualifies for the extension

 

[Elfy]

the intl student office here said that medicine is not one of the fields that qualifies for the extension

It doesn't matter that medicine is not a STEM field as long as the discipline you got your MS or PhD in, is. The field you do your OPT in should not be necessarily STEM, it should be reasonably related to your original STEM field of study. In other words, you cannot make an argument on how optional practical training in selling real estate or flipping burgers is related to molecular biology, but you can make an argument on how optional practical training in medicine would be related to molecular biology.

If your field of graduate study is one of those listed below then I believe you qualify for the extension.

http://www.ohiosea.org/stem/allstem.html

Don't necessarily listen to the international student adviser. While there are truly decent ones out there, first of all they often do not understand how medicine works, and second they all work first and foremost for the university, and many feel they have no real incentive to help you after you graduate. Get an attorney who works for you and helps you find you own niche within the wording of the law.