Guidance on Cap-Gap Exetension for F-1 Holders
The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (“ICE”) has released a supplemental guidance sheet with respect to gap-cap extensions available to holders of F-1 status who work pursuant to their optional practical training and who are beneficiaries of a cap-subject H-1B work visa petition.
The guidance sheet is helpful in not only describing in more detail what happens when an OPT F-1 holder is a beneficiary of an H-1B petition. Normally, when USCIS receives an H-1B petition it enters the information into its mainframe called CLAIMS. This update automatically updates the SEVIS system and which automatically should reflect the cap-gap extension for the F-1 holder. If this process does not work (due to time constraints, mainly), SEVIS allows the Designated School Official (“DSO”) to enter manually that the student is in valid status pursuant to cap-gap into SEVIS.
This functionality also allows DSOs to enter gap-cap information in cases where the H-1B application has been filed but it has not yet been processed by USCIS. The guidance notes, however, that the “manual” update of cap-gap status by the DSO should not be done unless in cases where the student’s OPT may expire before USCIS can receipt the H-1B petition (and therefore enter the H-1B petition in CLAIMS).
