DHS Granted Extension Until May 2016 to Issue New F-1 STEM OPT Rule

A federal district court has granted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) an additional 90 days to issue a new rule on Optional Practical Training extensions for F-1 students with science, technology, engineering and math degrees (STEM OPT extension).

The court had previously vacated DHS’s 17-month STEM OPT extension rule and given DHS until February 12, 2016 to promulgate a new rule.  This deadline has now been extended to May 10, 2016. DHS published its proposed new rule on October 19, 2015 and received an unprecedented 50,500 public comments.  The district court accepted DHS’s argument that it required additional time to address the comments and prepare for the new rule in order to avoid the hardships that a regulatory gap would cause to F-1 OPT workers and their employers.

Gibney will continue to monitor the status of this matter, and provide updates as they become available. If you have any questions concerning this alert, please contact your designated Gibney representative or email info@gibney.com.