DHS to offer backdoor increase to H-1B visas?

[OhioChick]

Final rules from Homeland Security could be a way around H-1B visa cap

April 08, 2008

In a change to its regulations, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to extend F-1 student visas for non-nationals from 12 months to 29 months.

The ruling extends the time period for non-immigrant students graduating with technical degrees in the U.S. in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program.

While the first condition of the rule change extends the length of stay in the U.S. for those students enrolled in a training program, the second condition could be used as a way to increase the number of technical workers in the U.S. without increasing the H-1B visa cap.

The change by the DHS states that the "rule responds to the situation in which an F-1 student's status and work authorization expires before he or she can begin employment under the H-1B visa program. The interim final rule addresses this problem by automatically extending the period of stay and work authorization for all F-1 students with pending H-1B petitions."

The question is, once a student is notified that he or she did not receive an H-1B in the visa lottery, will they be required to leave the U.S or can they remain here for 29 months?

The DHS statement does not address this question.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/08/DHS-to-provide-backdoor-increase-to-H-1B-visas_1.html

[fasttense]

1. This should please Bill Gates.

You know Billy boy needs more money. He is so desperate for money that he betrays the American middle class. If it weren't for American workers, Billy boy would of turned out to be nothing more than a bad lawyer.

[OhioChick]

2. "a way around H-1B visa cap"

Billy boy's dream....