Cap-gap extension missed due to student adviser's mistake, please help!

Hi!

A question regarding cap gap extension and SEVIS:

My employer applied my H1B on April 1st 2013 (the Fedex receipt shows it arrived there on April 1st), and my OPT expired on April 3rd. Given this, I am eligible for OPT extension according to cap gap rules. However, the international student adviser at my school is useless, and she didn’t update my SEVIS records until April 4th when my OPT had already exprired a day earlier.

Does anyone else have the same problem? Surely I shouldn’t lose my OPT employment extension just because my student adviser didn’t update my SEVIS on time? She claims she called SEVIS and they said they can’t do anything because the cap gap extension should have done on April 2nd at the latest. But there should be an option for a data fix right?

I know my F1 status was extended but that’s worth nothing if I won’t be able to work legally. I also sometimes work for more than one employers while still on OPT, and if I get a temp job it will be tricky not to have any employment documents to show.

I don’t think it can be legally right that I wouldn’t get the extension when I have a receipt to show my application was filed on time while I was still on my OPT.

Thanks! Any advice would be appreciated! Good luck for the lottery to all of you!!:slight_smile:

If you have a STEM degree, you should have applied for a OPT- 17 month extension well before your OPT expired.

If you dont come under STEM, there is nothing much your school DSO could have done, as the cap-gap can be applied only if you get a receipt number from USCIS ([b]NOT[/b] your FedEx/UPS receipt number ) for the H1b petition that you have applied. It should also be done before your OPT period expires. Since we all know that the USCIS didnt quite start sending out receipt notices before yesterday, there is no way cap-gap could have been applied for your case.



To understand cap-gap better, read teh following link



[http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=7f1a046c43360210VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD](http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=7f1a046c43360210VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD):

Hi, thanks for your answer! I don’t have a STEM degree, just applied for H1B. It says though that before USCIS issues a receipt they give you a temporary extension until June based on Fedex receipt or equivalent showing that the application was timely filed (which means it was received by USCIS on April 1st in this case).

I was actually in my DSO’s office while she updated my SEVIS records, and all they have to is select ‘filed application’ and the system prints you a new I-20. What I meant is that she should have updated the system the day before at the latest, but she didn’t, so now because of her mistake I don’t have my employment extension.

It says in several places that if the application is filed (not receipted) between April 1st and Oct 1st and if the student’s OPT is still valid on the day it was filed the student is entitled to the extension, while they are waiting for the official receipt which might take up to two months.

Just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar situation, or advice on how to fix data on SEVIS or deal with unknowledgeble DSO, as my school is not used to dealing with H1B’s.

Thanks!!

I think it is possible to do data fix w/ SEVIS, but I don’t know the process. Ask the DSO to call SEVIS and ask the process for data fix.