90 Days of Unemployment = Out of Status (17 Months OPT)

New rules emerge about 17 Months Post Completion OPT Extension. First came 17 Months OPT Extension proposal, then came the approval for 17 months Extension for Post completion OPT. Since it was new rule, there was confusion among students about applying for 17 or 29 months Optional Practical training.

But, it was made clear about new students applying for OPT can apply for only 17 months and students currently in OPT can apply for 17 months extension.

Good and Bad:

Good part of 17 months Optional Practical Training is for students who did not get H1B Visa through the lottery system, can get to stay little longer in U.S. which gives them advantage to apply for H1B visa in next year or hopefully the Bill to increase H1B Visa to 130,000 will be passed, after Bill Gates presented to the congress about the importance of the H1B Visa to U.S. Economy. So, that was the good side of 17 months OPT extension.

But, the bad part and probably many students will not be aware of the fact, if students apply for 17 months Post completion Optional Practical training extension, they should be working for some employer. 17 Months OPT extension rule dosen’t allow students to stay unemployed more than 120 days.

If you have applied for 17 OPT, new rule dosen’t allow students to remain unemployed for more than 90 days. I got the information from couple of sources, 17 months OPT Extension from USC and NAFSA )

I will write more details once I get more accurate information about Unemployment period under new OPT rule.