Curran & Berger

The Department of State has recently issued a cable, "Guidance On Processing Visa Applicants With Drunk Driving Hits" (AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07071670 (posted Jul. 16, 2007);), requiring consular officers to refer nonimmigrant visa applicants with prior drunk driving issues to panel physicians for medical examination in the following circumstances:

(1) if an applicant has a single drunk driving arrest or conviction within the last three calendar years, or

(2) if the applicant has two or more drunk driving arrests or drunk driving convictions in any time period.

Consular officers must now also refer applicants to panel physicians if there is any other evidence to suggest an alcohol problem (emphasis added). The directive is not discretionary. For example, it is now likely that an arrest for public intoxication at any time could trigger this new directive.

On April 10th the USCIS announced that they received approximately 163,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008.  More than 31,200 of these petitions were filed in the advanced degrtee category, for which 20,000 H-1B visas  are allocated.  They will run the lottery for advanced degree petitions first, and those that are not selected will then go into the general lottery for the remaining 65,000 visas.  (See AILA doc. 08041073)

For information on efforts to inrease the number of available H-1B visas, please see the resources listed on our Advocacy page .

A new rule regarding OPT (optional practical training for F-1 students) is expected to be published in the Federal Register the week of April 7th.  Details can be found on the NAFSA website: http://www.nafsa.org/regulatory_information.sec/29_month_opt_rule_updates.  Highlights of the new rule include:

• OPT extensions of up to 17 months beyond the initial 12-month OPT period (for a total of 29 months) for graduates of science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs who have a job offer from a qualified employer and meet all other requirements of the rule.

• Extension of status and work authorization for ALL F-1 OPT students with pending H-1B petitions.

• The USCIS will also allow F-1 students to request a change of status to H-1B in the U.S., rather than requiring students to return home and consular process for their H-1B visa.  See this USCIS press release for more information.