CPT

USCIS to Publish Revised Form I-539 and New Form I-539A

Changes to form I539. This is an announcement from the USCIS: We have revised Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status and will publish the revised form on our website on March 11, 2019. Starting on March 11, 2019, we will only accept the revised Form I-539 with an edition date of 02/04/19. We will reject any Form I-539 with an edition date of 12/23/16 or earlier. We will also be publishing a new Form I-539A, Supplemental Information for Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, on the Form I-539 webpage on March 11. Form…Read More Breaking News

USCIS Issues Revised Final Guidance on Unlawful Presence for Students and Exchange Visitors

Guidance Updated After Public Comment Period WASHINGTON— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a revised final policy memorandum (PDF, 129 KB) related to unlawful presence after considering feedback received during a 30-day public comment period that ended June 11, 2018. Under the revised final policy memorandum, effective Aug. 9, 2018, F and M nonimmigrants who fall out of status and timely file for reinstatement of that status will have their accrual of unlawful presence suspended while their application is pending. On May 10, 2018, USCIS posted a policy memorandum changing the way…Read More Breaking News

What is/are acceptable field(s) to be filled for CPT or OPT employment.

Following a question by AILA members on CPT and OPT, this is what the USCIS answered: Some Designated School Officials (DSOs) endorse Forms I-20 with only the dates of practical training, and not the employer name. May an employer accept such an I-20 (with the passport and I-94 card) for I-9 purposes without additional documentation, or must the employer obtain documentation listing the specific employer? An acceptable Form I-20 for curricular practical training or optional practical training STEM extension (STEM OPT) should have all Employment Authorization fields completed. The Form I-20 Employment Authorization…Read More Breaking News

OPT Denials especially based on the 30 day Rule

Recently there has been a surge in OPT denials because of some of the reasons below: 1. OPT filed not meeting the 30 day rule 2. OPT denied because of CPT 3. OPT denied because of transfer of  SEVIS 4. OPT denied because DSO did not properly update SEVIS. 5. OPT denied because form I-765 not properly filed. The video below covers the issueRead More Breaking News

UNNJ Students – Is it possible to move to Canada?

April 19, 2016 - Due to the fact that many students are now eager to leave the US, we have been contacted by many for possibilities in Canada. Unfortunately the Shah Peerally Law Group PC does not handle Canadian immigration. However,  the law firm Joomratty Law Corp, has been nice to offer assistance. In case, you want to move to Canada, please feel free to contact them. This is a message from the President, M. Joomratty. "Given the sad turn of events at University of Northern New Jersey – UNNJ, our law firm has…Read More Breaking News

Difficulties of trying to re-enter the United States after UNNJ

Many of the ex-students of UNNJ who have left are asking whether they will be able to come back. The question is very difficult to answer unless there is an analysis of the specific situation in which the UNNJ students were in while “attending” the school. First of all for those who are found to have defrauded or presented fraudulent documents to any government officials including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State and other government entities, they might find themselves in a situation of willful misrepresentation or fraud. See article…Read More Breaking News

UNNJ students – what are the chances of a reinstatement?

  • Posted on April 17, 2016
  • /Under CPT
April 16th 2016 - Reinstatement is one of the options being proposed by the termination letter from the DHS. While this option is being "offered" or proposed the question is whether it is a good idea to actually go for a reinstatement. From our experience a reinstatement is usually hard to obtain because one of the elements of the case is that the foreign student has to actually prove that he/she is not at fault. Unfortunately it might be a big hurdle to explain that one was not aware of the rules on…Read More Breaking News

Can the press help the UNNJ students?

We are calling on the press to hear the stories of the UNNJ students.  We have been receiving hundreds of calls in the past week. As we hear the story of the students and their versions of situation, it seems that there are a lot of flaws in this operation. Entrapment is the word that comes to mind - in Jacobson v. United States, 503 U.S. 540, 548 (1992). “Government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person’s mind the disposition to commit a criminal act, and then induce…Read More Breaking News

10 Lessons to be learned from UNNJ (University of Northern New Jersey) and TVU (Tri Valley University) Sagas!

  • Posted on April 14, 2016
  • /Under CPT
UNNJ has hit many almost by surprise after the TVU saga. Unfortunately unlike TVU where the culprit was directly the school, here the culprits are hard to define. Are they the brokers or consultants? Or are they just the government which tried to trap the brokers? The question might never be answered unless the press or foreign governments questions the United States – why did this happen? Nonetheless the UNNJ saga is now going t to affect the decision of thousands of students who hope to study in the United States. The biggest…Read More Breaking News

Willful Misrepresentation or Fraud in providing Documents to apply for H1B, or OPT.

  • Posted on April 9, 2016
  • /Under CPT
April 8 2016 - Some of the students of the University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ) who applied for an OPT or an H1B visa, have been receiving a number of requests for evidence (RFEs) based on their physical and actual attendance of UNNJ classes including but not limited to transcripts, parking space receipts, attendance records, etc. Since UNNJ was not a real school per se, many of those records were wrongfully obtained either through the brokers or the school administrations. As such bogus parking space receipts, false attendance records and false transcripts…Read More Breaking News

Justice Department Published complaints against Defendants on UNNJ cases

April 9 2016 - The UNNJ case is a sting operation by the DHS using a "fake university" called University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ). The sting operation  has been going on since 2012.  As  the cases will unfold we will know whether the UNNJ students or ex-students were 'co-conspirators' or just victims? If they were victims or just witnesses, it will be appropriate for the government to issue  U visas or T visas accordingly. Until we finalize our research and do our own investigations, we cannot conclusively assess the possibilities of the…Read More Breaking News

Shah Peerally Law Group PC helping the UNNJ students.

For Immediate Press Release Newark April 7th 2016 - On April 5th 2016, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) closed down a school known as the University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ). UNNJ was set up by the government as a sting operation to “trap” both brokers and foreign students on possible visa fraud. The operation had twenty-one brokers charged with several counts of visa fraud, harboring aliens among other charges. Today not only the brokers are affected but thousands of students who attended the school. While the sting operation, uprooted many alleged criminals,…Read More Breaking News
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