Philadelphia Immigration Lawyer Blog

On April 18, 2008, the USCIS announced that it would allow F-1 students who are the beneficiaries of selected H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2009 to request a change of status in lieu of consular processing.

This rule change will greatly benefit students who otherwise would have a gap between the end of their F-1 student status and the start date for their H-1B status. The April 18th announcement is a follow-up to an interim final rule that was announced by the USCIS on April 8th that automatically extended the F-1 status of students who are the beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions so that this gap can be covered.

F-1 Students will get the automatic extension if they are the beneficiary of an H-1B petition filed for the 2009 fiscal year and if they already requested a change of status as part of their H-1B application.

Students should be aware however that if the USCIS ultimately rejects or denies the H-1B petition, the automatic extension will also terminate at the same time.

If you, understandably, thought that you did not qualify for an extension when your H-1B petition was filed and thought that you needed to depart the U.S. and consular process for your H-1B visa, you can now request a change of status. Your request has to be received within 30 days of the issuance of the receipt notice.

To request a change of status in lieu of consular notification, you (or your lawyer) need to send an e-mail with the change of status request to the USCIS Service Center where your petition is pending. You have to do this within 30 days after you get the H-1B receipt notice. There are specific USCIS email addresses for each service center for just this purpose.

Your request has to include the I-129 Petition receipt number, the petitioner’s and beneficiary’s name, the beneficiary’s date of birth, the I-94 number, and the SEVIS number. Here are the email addresses:

For the Vermont Service Center:

For Premium Processing cases: VSCPPCAPGAP.Vscppcapgap@dhs.gov
For Non-Premium cases: VSCNONPPCAPGAP.Vscnonppcapgap@dhs.gov

For the California Service Center

For Premium Processing cases: CSC.ppcapgap@dhs.gov
For Non-Premium cases: CSC.nonppcapgap@dhs.gov

Please contact me if you have any questions or if you need any assistance in requesting the change of status.