STEM Extension

Recently, US federal judge deemed the regulation for extending the STEM OPT to 29 months (from 12 months) invalid due to lack of public notice and comment. The ruling, which will be effective in Feb 2016, will cause major disruption in labor market and education sector. Companies in various industries will lose a large number of contributing foreign employees, who will also have to face severe hardship. The ruling will potentially send false signal of tightening immigration policy to future foreign students in STEM fields and discourage them from coming to the US for scientific research. To avoid the massive impact on the US economy and education sector, we urge the White House to put in place a new, properly processed set of rules for the extension of the STEM OPT before Feb 201