USCIS to Allow F-1 Students Opportunity to Request Change of Status
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> USCIS to Allow F-1 Students Opportunity to Request Change of Status
Short-term, Immediate Measure for Beneficiaries of Selected H-1B Petitions
WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today
that it would allow F-1 students who are the beneficiaries of selected H-1B
petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2009 to request a change of status in lieu of
consular notification.
This short-term measure follows an April 8, 2008 interim final rule that,
among other actions, automatically extends the F-1 status of qualifying students
who are the beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions to cover the gap between
the expiration of a student’s F-1 status and the H-1B employment start date of
October 1. To obtain the automatic extension, a student must be the beneficiary
of an H-1B petition filed for the next fiscal year (with an October 1 employment
start date) and have requested a change of status. For F-1 student beneficiaries
of petitions that USCIS subsequently rejects, denies, or revokes, or for those
who violate their status, the automatic extension terminates at that time.
Since the rule was published after the filing period had closed for new FY
2009 H-1B petitions, many petitioners of F-1 students did not include a request
for a change of status with the H-1B petition. Instead, petitioners requested
consular notification based on the assumption that these students would have
been required to leave the United States to obtain an H-1B visa at a consular
office abroad.
USCIS has determined that it will allow petitioners of F-1 students whose
H-1B petitions were randomly selected to receive an H-1B visa number for FY2009
following the closure of the filing period, to now request a change of status on
behalf of qualified beneficiaries, if such requests are received within 30 days
of the issuance of the receipt notice.
To request a change of status in lieu of consular notification,
petitioners (or authorized representatives) should send an e-mail with the
request to the USCIS service center where their petition is pending within 30
days of the issuance of the receipt notice. Special email addresses for each
service center have been established specifically for this purpose. These
addresses are listed below and are posted on USCIS’ website. Petitioners should
e-mail their requests for change of status in lieu of consular notification upon
receipt of the notice so the agency has the request before completing H-1B
petition adjudication. The requests should include the receipt number and both
the petitioner’s and beneficiary’s name, date of birth, I-94 (Arrival/Departure
Record) number, and Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)
number. Please do not contact the service center about requesting a change of
status until after receiving the receipt notice.
E-mail addresses for requesting change of status are:
- Vermont Service Center
- California Service Center
NOTE: If an F-1 student, who is the beneficiary of a selected 2009 H-1B
petition, has a pending request to change to a status other than H-1B but now
wants to file under the process outline | 
