November 2019
The US Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to adjust the fees charged by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for certain benefit applications.
On September 30, 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued new Policy Guidance to schools indicating that additional scrutiny is being placed on determination of the “direct relationship between employment and a student’s major area of study” for any employment pursued under F-1 Optional Practical Training and STEM Optional Practical Training extension.
October 2019
The MIT Office of the General Counsel issued a statement on its webpage outlining that MIT joined the “friend of the court” brief with 18 peer institutions issued on October 3, 2019.
July 2019
There are recent reports of new scams targeting international students: 1) scammers posing as an officer from their home country Consulate or police through social media or phone; 2) Calls to Chinese students claiming to be Chinese Government officials; 3) scammers posing as package courier companies by phone; 4) Caller ID of scam using legitimate government agency phone numbers.
The ISO continues to monitor F-1 Optional Practical Training processing times as approval timelines have been delayed as compared to previous years. These processing delays are affecting all OPT applications processed around the U.S.
June 2019
MIT President L. Rafael Reif released a letter to the MIT Community addressing the important role immigration, and immigrants, play in the U.S. and at MIT.
On May 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule to adjust fees charged by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) to international students, exchange visitors and SEVP-certified schools.
David C. Elwell, Associate Dean and Director of the MIT International Students Office, talks about impact of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processing delays impacting international students seeking to pursue summer internships in the U.S.
As of Sunday, 43 graduate students and two undergraduate students have filed Optional Practical Training (OPT) work authorization applications, David Elwell, associate dean and director of MIT’s International Students Office (ISO), wrote in an email to The Tech.
International students at MIT and many other universities who applied for Optional Practical Training (OPT) work authorization are experiencing widespread government processing delays, preventing them from starting their summer internships.
