Is it true that after February 2016, the US authorities will hand over permission for the F1 Visa students to stick on in the country and work for a period of 6 years? This is what media speculated some time back and this is what they are corroborating now! The International students residing in the US, will soon be getting permission from the Government, and their F1 Visa will be “treated on par with the H-1B visa”, confirm reports.
The students heading off to the States for higher education may be permitted more time in the States now. News reports are saying that the International Students in USA under the F1 Visa may be allowed to work and stay on in the country for 6 years, after they have completed their educational pursuits. After the February 12th, 2016, these International students staying in the country under the permission of F1 visa may be “treated on par with H-1B visa” , confirm the reports.
Till now the students who possess the F1 Visa, had to undertake a course that had a minimum study period of 9 months and then they got authority permission to stay on in the US and work for just a year, after the course completion.
The regulations further specified that a student who was studying the stream of Science, Technology, Engineering , Maths or STEM as it is termed commonly, were allowed to stay on and work for 2 years. If they needed to stay on and work, they had to apply for H-1B visa.
The education prowess of the student employees maybe in great demand in the US, and their employers do provide sponsorship for them, but the final call is by the visa authorities, who still have the power to reject the applications of these students. It was up to the discretion of the Visa authorities, whether the students were permitted to stay on or were asked to go back to the country of their native origin.
If the application of the H-1B visa is rejected then the students had to enroll into another educational course, complete the study tenure and then re-apply for the visa if they wanted to stay on in the US.
It was anticipated that the F1 visa rules were going to face an upheaval soon and on August 12, 2015, a ruling permitting the students under the F1 visa , to stay on and work an extra 6 years, was passed by the U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle of the District of Columbia. The ruling was influenced by a proposal put forth 7 years ago by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which had not been made public then.
The DHS has now been ordered to implement the 7 year old proposal in the next 6 months. The date for implementation has been declared as February 12, 2015.US needs man power and the students need to get their H-1B visas at the earliest. The DHS has to act soon, or else thousands of workers under the F1 visa will have to head back to their home countries.
