I am currently in US on H1-B visa and my wife is on H4 visa. She was accepted in graduate school for Fall 2006 semester and she started her studies on H4 visa itself. She is currently enrolled in her second semester.

She is thinking of changing her visa status to F1 starting next Fall, primarily to be eligible for OPT after graduation. She will be graduating in May 2008. I have read that you have to be on F1 for a year to be eligible for OPT. Is that one year before you can apply for OPT or one year before you can start working on OPT?

So in her case, can she change to F1 visa in July 2007 and apply for OPT in April 2008 and start working around August 2008?

Any suggestions/advice will be appreciated.

Many thanks.

san123

Hi,
Interesting question and I have the same question too .
Any answers ?

v_atray

Hi san123

Here is what I found: Yes, it is possible to change to F1 visa and apply for OPT a year later, provided you can do it. The requirement is that you have to be on F1 for a year before you can start working on OPT. The problems include:

1. Bank Statement - I am with Bank of America and the branch manager will not issue and letter with the current bank balance immediately. BoA will issue an 'Immigration Letter' that will state your current balance, average balance for last 3 months, when and where account was opened, etc. The information will be reviewed by someone, the letter will be notarized and sent to you by mail. They say it may take upto two weeks. If it gets lost in the mail (as it happened in my case), then you start all over again.

2. Inept Student Services Office (SSO) - Do not expect the employees of the Student Services office to be professional, knowledgeable or efficient. They will ask you to come when you have all papers ready, then issue you an appointment 3 weeks down the road, not log it in their records, issue another person a duplicate appointment and then ask you to come back another 3 weeks later. Also they dont understand the visa process very well and will keep giving you wrong information. And it takes them atleast 2 appointments to get anything done.

3. Getting visa issued in USA or home country - If your wife is not planning to go home and get her F1 visa stamped there, then she has to file Form I-539 (Application To Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status) with a sevice center in USA. Currently BCIS is processing applications that were filed in Dec 2006. You can check current processing dates here: https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp? So if your wife files for change to F1 status now, she can expect it to be granted sometime in August and get OPT next august. Else, she has to delay her graduation and start her OPT in Jan'09. There is a list of documents that need to be provided along with I-539, which you can find out about at the SSO of your wife's school.

My wife had difficulty in explaining to SSO officials that she wanted to get her F1 stamped in New Delhi as she is going to India in summer, so all she needed from them was an I-20. But they kept asking her for all the documents as if she has to file for change of status in US. For example, the university has to have your bank statements for last 3 months for filing I-539 only, not if you go to a US embassy abroad. But they keep asking for it. Also, they will not accept any bank statements printed off the internet. The want 'original' statements only. Since I only recieve estatements and not paper copies, I dont know what to give to them.

Moral of the story: Start atleast 6 months in advance and pray that you dont have to deal with stubborn and ignorant officials.

sravanisandhya

Hi,ihave same question please give me replay.
Thank you.