How I lost my STEM Extension 🤯

Summary

In this video, the creator shares their personal experience of losing a STEM extension, a first-time revelation even to their parents. They recount their journey from joining Purdue University in 2017, navigating through CPT, Co-op, and OPT, to the anxious wait for H1B approval. The video details the process of applying for work authorizations and the creator's oversight in the STEM extension application, leading to a tense period of uncertainty. It serves as a cautionary tale for international students and a testament to the importance of meticulous application checks.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video is a personal account of the creator's experience losing their STEM extension, which is a first-time disclosure even to their parents.
• 🏫 The creator first joined Purdue University in 2017 and had to navigate various visa and job authorization processes, including CPT, OPT, and the STEM extension.
• 📚 CPT (Curricular Practical Training) and OPT (Optional Practical Training) are obtained regardless of the course, while the STEM extension is specific to STEM-approved courses.
• 🔍 The process for applying for CPT and Co-op is typically straightforward and managed through the university, without the need to submit documents to USCIS.
• 📝 The speaker emphasizes the importance of saving all I-20s and related documents, as they are crucial for future applications and authorizations.
• 💼 The creator secured a job with Willman Construction and applied for OPT after graduation, experiencing a delay in receiving their EAD card due to high application volumes.
• ⏳ The STEM extension application process is more complex, requiring careful attention to detail and timely submission to avoid falling out of status.
• 😓 A critical oversight in the form (not checking a box on the I-765 form) led to the rejection of the STEM extension application, causing significant anxiety for the creator.
• 🆘 The creator reached out to International Student Services and HR for guidance when they realized they might be out of status, highlighting the importance of communication in such situations.
• 👍 Despite the setback, the creator's H1B visa was picked in the lottery and later approved, which resolved their immigration status concerns.
• 📈 The video serves as a cautionary tale, urging viewers to be meticulous with their visa applications and to seek help when needed.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is the creator's experience with losing their STEM extension while studying at a US university.

What does STEM stand for in the context of the video?

In the video, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, which is a specific extension for students in these fields.

What is the difference between CPT, OPT, and STEM extension?

CPT is Curricular Practical Training, OPT is Optional Practical Training, and STEM extension is a two-year extension for students in STEM fields after their OPT.

Why did the video creator apply for a STEM extension?

The video creator applied for a STEM extension because their OPT was about to expire and they wanted to continue working in the US.

What was the mistake made by the video creator that led to the rejection of their STEM extension application?

The mistake made by the video creator was not marking the checkbox on the I-765 form indicating that they were applying for a STEM extension.

What is the term 'Cap Gap' mentioned in the video and what does it mean?

Cap Gap refers to the period between the end of OPT and the start date of an H1B visa, during which a student is considered to be in valid status due to their H1B application being picked in the lottery.

Why did the video creator feel anxious after receiving an I-797C notice?

The video creator felt anxious because the I-797C notice was a rejection for their STEM extension application, and they were unsure of their immigration status.

What was the role of the video creator's HR and ISS in helping them navigate the STEM extension issue?

The HR and ISS provided support by forwarding the case to a lawyer, offering advice on what to do next, and ensuring the video creator was not working out of status.

How long did it take for the video creator to receive their OPT approval?

It took the video creator about four and a half months to receive their OPT approval.

What advice does the video creator give to other international students regarding their visa applications?

The video creator advises international students to double-check and triple-check their visa application forms, and consider having a friend review them as well to avoid mistakes.

What was the final outcome for the video creator regarding their H1B visa application?

The final outcome was positive, as the video creator received an approval notice for their H1B visa application.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Challenges Faced with STEM Extension Application

The speaker begins by introducing the topic of their video, which is the personal experience of losing their STEM extension. They explain the importance of STEM extension in the context of U.S. university education and the different types of work authorizations available to students, including CPT, OPT, and the STEM extension. The speaker shares their journey from joining Purdue University in 2017, applying for CPT and a co-op, and eventually facing difficulties when their STEM extension application did not go through, causing them to be in a bad state. The paragraph highlights the process of applying for these authorizations and the ease of doing so through the university, as well as the importance of saving all relevant documents.

05:01

😓 The Unexpected Rejection of STEM Extension

The speaker continues with the story of their STEM extension application, detailing the process and timeline leading up to the rejection. They explain that they applied for the extension just before their OPT was about to expire, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were delays in receiving their new I-20 from the university. The anxiety builds as the speaker describes waiting for the approval, only to receive a rejection notice due to a missed checkbox on the I-765 form. This oversight led to the denial of their STEM extension, causing significant distress and uncertainty about their legal status and future in the U.S.

10:04

🤔 Seeking Solutions After STEM Extension Rejection

In the final paragraph, the speaker recounts their actions following the rejection of their STEM extension. They reached out to Purdue's International Student Services (ISS) and their HR department for guidance, expressing concern about their employment status and legal standing in the U.S. The speaker also mentions the potential need to leave the country and return after H1B visa stamping. However, after consulting with a lawyer, they learn about the 'CAP Gap' which allows them to remain in the U.S. legally while waiting for their H1B visa to begin on October 1st. The speaker concludes by sharing the relief they felt upon receiving their H1B approval notice and reflects on the importance of careful application preparation and the value of seeking help when facing immigration challenges.

Keywords

💡STEM Extension

STEM Extension refers to an additional two-year extension of Optional Practical Training (OPT) available to students who have completed a degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math field. In the video, the narrator discusses their personal experience with applying for a STEM extension and the challenges they faced, highlighting the importance of this term in understanding the video's theme of immigration and work authorization for international students in the U.S.

💡CPT (Curricular Practical Training)

Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is a type of off-campus employment authorization for international students that is directly related to their major of study. The video script mentions CPT as one of the first steps in the narrator's journey with U.S. work authorization, indicating its role in the broader context of international students' educational and professional development in the U.S.

💡OPT (Optional Practical Training)

Optional Practical Training (OPT) allows international students to work in the U.S. for up to one year after graduation in a field related to their major. The narrator's experience with OPT is central to the video, as it sets the stage for their subsequent application for a STEM extension and the challenges they encountered.

💡I-765 Form

The I-765 Form is used by individuals to apply for various types of employment authorization, including OPT and STEM extensions. In the script, the narrator's failure to properly complete the I-765 Form, specifically missing a checkbox, leads to the rejection of their STEM extension application, underscoring the form's significance in the immigration process.

💡USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services)

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the government agency responsible for processing immigration-related applications, including those for work authorizations like OPT and STEM extensions. The narrator's interactions with USCIS are a key part of the video's narrative, illustrating the bureaucratic challenges international students may face.

💡I-20 Form

The I-20 Form is a document issued by U.S. educational institutions to international students to apply for a student visa. In the video, the narrator mentions receiving new I-20s for their CPT, co-op, and OPT, emphasizing the form's role in maintaining their student and work authorizations.

💡H-1B Visa

The H-1B Visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. The narrator's H-1B application being picked in the lottery and later approved is a pivotal point in the video, as it offers a potential solution to the narrator's predicament with their STEM extension denial.

💡Cap Gap

Cap Gap refers to a period of authorized stay for individuals whose H-1B petition has been approved but has not yet started, typically between the end of their OPT and the beginning of their H-1B validity date. The narrator learns they are in Cap Gap status, which means they are not out of status despite the STEM extension denial, providing relief in the video's storyline.

💡International Student Services (ISS)

International Student Services (ISS) offices at U.S. universities provide support and guidance to international students, including assistance with immigration processes. In the script, the narrator reaches out to ISS for help after receiving the rejection notice for their STEM extension, demonstrating the role of ISS in navigating complex immigration issues.

💡HR (Human Resources)

Human Resources (HR) departments within companies manage employee relations, including issues related to employment authorization and visas. The narrator contacts their HR department after the STEM extension denial, and HR's response and actions are crucial in resolving the narrator's concerns, showing the importance of HR in supporting international employees.

💡Receipt Number

A receipt number is a unique identifier assigned by USCIS to track the status of an application. The narrator uses their receipt number to check the status of their STEM extension application online, which leads to the discovery of their rejection, highlighting the receipt number's importance in the application tracking process.

Highlights

The video discusses the personal experience of losing a STEM extension.

The speaker reveals this incident to their parents for the first time through the video.

Details the process of applying for visas and job authorizations as an international student in the US.

Explains the difference between CPT, OPT, and the STEM extension.

Describes the ease of applying for CPT through the university without USCIS involvement.

Mentions the importance of saving all I-20 documents for future applications.

Shares the experience of applying for OPT and the online process introduced by USCIS.

Warns about the potential for OPT applications to be denied and the importance of careful form filling.

Narrates the personal story of waiting for OPT approval during a peak application period.

Discusses the anxiety of applying for the STEM extension close to the deadline.

Reveals the mistake made in the I-765 form that led to the rejection of the STEM extension.

Expresses the emotional impact of receiving the rejection notice for the STEM extension.

Provides advice on reaching out to International Student Services and HR in case of visa issues.

Explains the concept of 'CAP Gap' and its significance for H1B applicants.

Shares relief upon learning about the CAP Gap status and the eventual H1B approval.

Concludes with a message of caution and the importance of double-checking visa applications.

Invites viewers to share their experiences with visa application issues.

Transcripts

hey everyone welcome to another video

and in this video i'm going to talk

about how i lost my stem extension

i haven't really talked about this to

anyone before

and uh this is the first time i'm even

telling my parents so they are going to

know

through this thing so i was in a really

bad state last year

once when when my stem extension didn't

go through so i'm going to tell you that

story

only a few people knew about it uh

someone knew about it my

roommate emmanuel about it and a couple

of people from hr knew about it so

let's go back a little bit let's go to

2017 when i joined purdue for the first

time

when you study at a us university you

have to apply for a certain number of

visas or you have to apply for a certain

number of like job

authorization from uscis and from the

university

and that's what we are talking about

here so there is cpt that is curricular

practical training there is opt that is

optional practical training

and there is stem extension that is

science technology

engineering and math extension um stem

extension you only get when your course

is stem approved uh opt and cpd you get

regardless of your course so in 2017

i joined purdue for my internship first

first

year that was 2018 summer i apply for my

cpd

applying for cpd the process is really

easy it's only through the university

you don't have to submit any of the

documents

to uscis so it makes the whole process

much easier

usually the designated school officer

who gives you i20 who

authorizes your i20 they'll help you

fill out the documents if you're missing

some

document they will help you out so the

process is

really easy i'm going to do three links

from uh from different

universities on how the process goes so

during the summer when you're applying

for your cpd for internship

it will be useful for you i go through

that process that's really easy

and then i decide i want to do a co-op

that is a four months or a semester-long

internship

that is also going through the

university and not through

uscis so that also goes through very

easily and i'm going to leave

link in description of the process on

how it goes

from different universities so that you

can check it out so cpd goes through

like really easily

and i'm all good every time i get work

authorization for like cpt and co-op

i get a new i-20 from the university

and uh during my summer internship and a

co-op

i get two i20s for that and one thing

which i'll tell you

save all of your i20s whatever itemities

you have

up until now save all the documents we

come to opt now that is optional

practical training

after my graduation i decide that i want

to work in the us

and i interview for a bunch of companies

i get into one of the companies that is

willman construction

as soon as i get the offer i go ahead

and apply for opt

one of the things which uscis did great

this year is made the whole

process of opt applying our opt

application online

earlier it was offline earlier stem

extension was offline as well

so what had happened was you have to

submit all the relevant documents

and then you send it through postal

services the process is fine the only

thing is like

nobody helps you with that process your

international student services office or

oiss or

whatever you want to call it at your

university those guys help you

but they'll not watch each and every

section of your

i-765 form and sometimes students can

mess it up i don't know it has happened

before one of my

really close friend's brother who was

studying at asu last year

his opt got denied for some reason and

at the end of the day

he had to go back so there are cases

like that so you have to make sure that

when you're filling up your opt

application it's

all solid and it's ready to go so i

filled in the application

put it through uscis i get an approval

from my

iss that is international student

services at video

that you're good to go i put in the

documents in

2019 when i applied for my opt it was

crazy during that time because a lot of

people

were applying us admissions were at peak

that time

u.s graduation was at peak that time so

there was just a lot of people

graduating

and uscis was really backed up

usually it takes like two months to

three months to get your ead card

mine took like four and a half months or

so and i know some people who have took

like

five months to get back so i applied in

april

and i got my ead approval in august i

started working on august 19th

um i think like a week after i got my

approval

it was good that i was work like my

employer was accommodating of the fact

that you know opt

can take a lot of time and hersh goes

that indian guy was going through the

same thing that time and

just communicating that with your

employer really works out it took four

months that's like

way too much time for it to take that

much for the process

but it came through and i was good to go

now comes the stem extension

so stem extension is a little different

in opt you are still at the university

while you're applying for it

you can just go to the iss to help you

out and you can get a double check with

everyone

myopt was getting over on 8th of july

2020.

i knew by this time my company my

employer already applied for my h1b

and my h1b picked up in the lottery

remember it was picked up in the lottery

it wasn't approved getting picked up in

the lottery doesn't necessarily mean

that it will

it will get approved the documents and

the backup documents that your lawyer

puts in

should make sense so i applied for my

stem extension that is the two years

extension over opt luckily my

lottery was picked up and i was like you

know i was comfortable sitting down and

waiting until the last moment like hey

i'll apply for my step extension that's

no big deal i applied on a month

a month and few days before my deadline

so july 8th was my deadline july 2020

and june 2nd is when i submitted all the

necessary documents that is

i-765 and there's a bunch of other forms

which you have to submit and there's a

list

which i'm going to put that as well and

you have to submit that to your iss

so that they can authorize that yeah you

are good to go and they will also

send you new i-20 saying that yeah this

is stem extension approved and what's

the status like just to give you a new

identity to

apply to the university or to apply to

the uscis

so i submitted my documents on june 2nd

and during that time because scovitus

was on the peak last year

during that time it was taking too much

time for iss to get back to me

so my i20 i received my i20 by june 22nd

and july 8th

that's not too far apart okay that's two

to three weeks apart i would say

eight plus eight sixteen so that's two

weeks apart

and uh that's that's just not too enough

time

for them to give me approval right away

okay so

i apply on june 22nd itself and i get a

notice that

they have received my case in on june

23rd it is good because

the uscis has office in phoenix it takes

a lot less time for them to

send a receivable notice uh usually even

if you're sending it to

in texas or i think san francisco has

one office or somewhere

it doesn't take too long to get a uh

like a notice that they have received

your documents but

once they receive your document it's

gonna take some time to process it right

so that process was going through now my

anxiety was going a little bit

like i was already late my status gets

over on july

8th what am i going to do now it was all

a weight came i was just waiting for it

on july 13th i think i saw

a message coming on my phone that hey

there's a change on your case you can

check it online so

i went to uscis websites put my receipt

number and i see

it didn't say denied it said something

else on july 16th i see

the document in my hand i see a post i

take out the post i open it up and i see

that there's a

i797c which is a rejection notice

i was like what the hell happened like

am i did i just get rejected for stem

extension what did i do wrong

i was like all right this this is some

sort of mistake you know

i'll try to figure it out and of course

i can apply again right like

in my mind at that time i was like all

right i'll just apply again for this

so i come to my apartment and i show it

to my roommate and i started looking it

up like

hey what does i 797c means and

can i apply for stem extension again now

because

8th of july was my last date i was a

little skeptical about it

but i was optimistic at that time i

looked it up online and it says that you

cannot apply for stem extension once

your

deadline is over so my opt is over and

if my stem extension is denied after it

i just can't apply

i'm like what the so usais took two

and a half weeks to just get back to me

to say that i've been rejected and i was

i was really nervous about it that night

i slept well i was like you know i'll

figure it out tomorrow

in the morning while i was doing my

business i looked it up on my phone and

started

reading a lot about it and that's

the time when i got really anxious

that's the time when i got really

nervous like

ah this i think means that i lost

my stem extension

i applied first of all a little too late

and second when i was going through my

forms seeing like why did i not

get my stem extension what happened was

in the i-765 form

on the first page there's a check box

which asks like

are you applying for opt are you

applying for stem extension

and i didn't mark that checkbox i had

everything prepared everything was good

to go

except for that checkbox and because of

that checkbox

i got rejected and that made me that

friday

so july 17th was the friday when i went

to the office

and in the morning i first of all

emailed iss that is

international student services at pdu

and

i emailed my hr i told her like hey this

is the case

what should i be doing i am a little

skeptical that i'm out of status so i

don't even know if i should be working

right now

um you know just being in this space so

much

like i have seen some people getting

into this kind of problems

so it's always better to just reach out

to your

international student services and your

hr if you're working during that time

i reach out to her she gets back to me

quickly like hey i forwarded this to the

lawyer

let me check with her like what's going

on we don't want you to be working

if you're out of status she was really

nice about it really comforting

but to get to a lawyer like even if a

company is hired lawyer full-time

it takes a little while because they're

always busy and something

so i get to it and i'm sitting there and

i'm like

my pants almost like oh am

i out of status would i have to go back

so i was a little

optimistic more about that hey my

lottery is picked up

for h1b so my case is already in

i haven't got an approval notice but it

should look positive

just in case everything goes to and

i'm out of status i'll just leave the

country

right now and just come back after my

h1b stamping

and that would take a while so i would

be gone for the from the country for at

least

six to seven months seeing how covered

was during that time

so again i'm reaching out to isis i'm

calling them they're not able to get

back to me they're like

hey just email and we'll see how it goes

then

and um i'm texting my hr like hey did

you get any status update from

the lawyers she's like hey the lawyers

just got back to me

they're saying that they'll give me a

call at 3 p.m

and it is a friday so i'm off early like

we usually do 7 to 4

and i got out by 2 30 that day and i'm

trying to sleep i'm trying to take a nap

because i'm like just

so frustrated i didn't sleep well last

night so

i'm trying to take a nap i'm trying to

calm down and hr calls me up and tells

them like

hey park looks like you are completely

okay

ah and i was like all right that sounds

perfect

so what the hr did was hr put together a

total case and

gave it to the lawyers and told her hey

this is the case

because i sent like a very comprehensive

mail to her

saying that hey this is the notice which

i got this is my all my i20s these are

all my documents

so once the lawyer saw that she figured

out like hey

this person should be on cap cap right

now now let me tell you what capcap is

so if you're on opt not first of all not

every course has stem extension okay

if you're on opt um and if your employer

applies for h1b right away then

you have like this three months of

period or two months of period between

your end of opt and october 1st

when your h1b kicks in so between that

time

a student is in cap cap so what cap gap

is like when you

are approved for your h-1b you get onto

cab gap so you're never out of status

so you don't have to go fly back to your

country and come back in you could still

stay in the country and your

h1b will just kick in on the on

october 1st that's when it kicks in i

took a deep breath

she sent me some more reading material

on what tab cap is

i read about cap cap and i was so so

relaxed

luckily by 24th july

is when i got approval notice saying

that hey your h1b is approved so i calm

down even more that day

but the point of me making this video is

just that

i will i have been in this like space

and i've been helping students and i

have all the resources even then i got

really nervous and scared

and it was my mistake at the end of the

day that i did not fill up that check

box at i-765

i should have double checked triple

checked maybe i should have asked a

friend of mine to

check it for me and yeah i just got

lucky because match when we got picked

up if it wouldn't

have gotten picked up i would have been

in a flux

thank you so much guys for watching this

video if you have been in this kind of

situation before

please comment down below and tell me

how did you solve it

and yeah thank you so much guys for

watching and until then i'll see in the

next one

take care everyone bye