Lessons from America: Never Rely on US Immigration

I was supposed to start work this past Monday, but I have been delayed because my OPT work application has not been approved by U.S. Immigration despite being filed over 90 days ago.

The student (F-1) Visa allows students to engage in work related to their training for up to 1 year full-time. This period may be done in part-chunks (in theory you can work full-time in the summer, part-time during 2nd year, and full-time after school ends). In order to be approved, a student must file an application with U.S. Immigration. For what is essentially a data recording exercise (simply logging when you want to work and making sure you do not go over your limit), the application process is supposed to take a ridiculously long 90 days.

Now, an international MBA has another work approval option for their summer internship, CPT. This is a quicker approval process because it is controlled by the school. CPT requires the student to sign up for a summer course (and pay the tuition) and it essentially makes the summer internship into a class, eliminating the need for Immigration approval. As a class, the student will have to attend some classes during their weekends and complete a project for the class. CPT is a great option for students who want to save their OPT time for after they complete their MBA.

I did not choose this route because the OPT time after my degree is not as important when you are Canadian. We have the option of getting a TN Visa under the NAFTA agreement if we do not immediately secure a H1-B visa. The TN has a same day approval process for Canadians (I am not sure if it is the same for Mexicans). I figured I can use some of my OPT during the summer, some during the school year and avoid extra tuition and the hassle of attending classes during the summer.

The second reason I chose the OPT route was that even if the approval process took more than 90 days, Immigration would issue an Interim Card that would allow you to work while they continued processing. Therefore, in my mind, as long as I filed my application 90 days before I hoped to work, I would have my approval. In retrospect, I definitely overestimated the simplicity of the OPT approval process.

Immigration has a great website that allows you to check what application receipt dates they are processing (They are generally 90 days behind). It also allows you to check the status of your application. Unfortunately, this great feature really loses any form of benefit by only having one status for the entire process ("Processing"). Yes, you read correctly, the immigration website allows an applicant to learn if they are processing the application. Thanks, Immigration.

As I approached my 90 day deadline without hearing a peep from Immigration, I took advantage of another feature of their website that allows you to schedule an appointment with an immigration officer. It is a slick feature. It asks for your ZIP code, then asks what would you like the appointment for? I choose "I have not received my EAD approval within 90 days and I would like to get an Interim EAD card". Then, the online program gives you a wide selection of times to schedule the appointment at an office closest to my ZIP code that can help me. So far, so good, I show up for my appointment and tell the immigration officer that I would like to get an Interim EAD card. To which she replied, "We don't issue Interim EAD cards anymore."

I was rather confused as the website says that they issue Interim EAD cards and the appointment program specifically gave me the option to meet regarding this issue. The officer explained to me that they no longer issue interim cards and that it would do no good to discuss what the websites say because she has no control over it. Bottom line is that I would have to wait for my application to be approved and I receive the card in the mail; my reliance on the interim EAD as the hard stop in the timeline was wrong.

Even more mind-boggling is that UCI's International Center is aware of this change in policy (as I learned when I approached them after my meeting with the officer) and their website still claims that we can get Interim EAD. Their job is to keep the international students up to date about key issues (one of them being work visa issues). They are not doing it. I was pretty blind-sided by this change in policy and it is now affecting my internship.

I could spend a lot more time bringing out every stupid detail of my experience, but this post is already long enough. And I am pretty drained going through the experience. I am used to cutting through tape and getting things done, but no one can be prepared for the experience of trying to get things done in a federal government agency.

As a P.S. to this post, if you apply for your OPT and you do not receive a notice to get your fingerprints taken within 60 days, contact the application service line. Although nowhere in the Immigration website or UCI International Center website indicates that fingerprinting is part of the process, I discovered that they are and your application will not be approved without them. Too bad that online status checking feature does not ever change to "awaiting fingerprints".