29 Sep H-1B “Cap Gap” Case Approved
Our lawyers represent a large engineering firm in Philadelphia, PA in the handling of all of their immigration matters. The engineering firm had hired an F-1 student on Optional Practical Training whose work authorization expired on August 21, 2010. The engineering firm wanted to continue employing the F-1 student beyond the expiration date of his work authorization so we filed a petition for a change of status with the Immigration Service prior to the August 21, 2010 expiration date of the work authorization. The filing of the Petition prior to the expiration of the work authorization automatically extended the Optional Practical Training work authorization through September 30, 2010 under the H-1B “cap gap” regulations. The H-1B petition, which was for a bridge engineering position, was approved by the Immigration Service and the status of the employee changes from F-1 to H-1B effective October 1, 2010.