RFE on OPT Application (Regular)

[abhi19]

Hello All, 

 

My wife applied for OPT visa in June 2015 and received RFE yesterday. RFE has approximately 10-12 questions which are divided in three sections. 

 

1) College Program

2) CPT details ( She did two CPT's  in Spring and Summer 2015 (current). 

3) Proof of residency. 

 

She is trying her best to get all documents from college at earliest possible and send response back. I wanted to see if any one else had experienced similar earlier or now? Any idea how much is the processing time on RFE for OPT? 

 

 

Appreciate you reply/ inputs/advices in this kind of scenario. 

 

Thanks

 

[rahul412]

There are many people who received these kinds of RFE, and there are two common reasons for that

1. Working illegally in CPT

2. Enrolling in some fraud university which abuses CPT.

 

From your post its clear that your wife has abused CPT, I guess here OPT will be rejected bcos of this abuse. Just use google to know what mistake your wife did.

 

Which course is that requires two CPT's continuously? What's the name of her university??

[jairichi]

The issue could be CPT. What is s legit one? Check with an attorney.

[JoeF]

This looks like a shady university. When they ask about the college program and CPT, that usually means the university is known for abusing CPT.

Care to tell us the name of that college?

[abhi19]

Hey guys apologies for not sharing complete information, no this is not shady college. Its "Northwestern Polytechnic University". It is very old university and not in news for CPT or OPT abuse like some other universities and are very strict in immigration stuff 

 

As far as CPT goes it was done as per college and USCIS rule which is starting CPT after one year of Academic studies as Full time student on F-1 visa and company is also with in commuting distance from college and approved by DSO and college staff. In fact we are submitting certification of attendance as evidence she had 100% attendance during CPT. 

 

My meaning two CPT's was in two semesters, it was for same company in Spring and Summer Semester, but not two companies. 

[rahul412]

Hey guys apologies for not sharing complete information, no this is not shady college. Its "Northwestern Polytechnic University". It is very old university and not in news for CPT or OPT abuse like some other universities and are very strict in immigration stuff 

 

As far as CPT goes it was done as per college and USCIS rule which is starting CPT after one year of Academic studies as Full time student on F-1 visa and company is also with in commuting distance from college and approved by DSO and college staff. In fact we are submitting certification of attendance as evidence she had 100% attendance during CPT. 

 

My meaning two CPT's was in two semesters, it was for same company in Spring and Summer Semester, but not two companies. 

If its genuine CPT then did everyone in that class took two CPT's? Do you know that CPT is not an optional, its mandatory if required by the course. Its clear that your wife has abused CPT, no doubt in it.

 

AFAIK, this university is very much famous for CPT although its not in the news.

[abhi19]

Yeah many students in her class who got offers they did two CPT's which I mean again is in two semesters not two jobs or in two companies in same semester at all.  And this was not through any consulting job but a proper intern in bay area startup.  Yes they got 2 credits for doing CPT. 

 

In any case her college is preparing all documentation and it seems they get randomly  5-7 RFE every semester and its same for Summer 2015 and they are in same format. 

 

@Rahul412 - I do not mean to argue, but I think you did not understand case properly. How it is abuse? Abuse is doing CPT from day 1 in college or full time job through consulting companies or some job in different city. 

 

Here CPT is allowed only after college and company signed agreement and with in 15 miles of distance from college. Also it has to be approved by professor and can be done only after one year of academic studies. I see meeting all this criteria. 

 

Also I did two CPT's when I was in SJSU and honestly I did not see even small difference between rules I had in SJSU to NPU. So what is abuse? Are you telling state universities are abusing Cpt/Interns like other small universities here. 

 

 

Thanks

[JoeF]

CPT has to be an integral part of the curriculum. That means that everybody taking the class would have to do the same kind of internship. There can't be a choice to do it or not.

[rahul412]

@Rahul412 - I do not mean to argue, but I think you did not understand case properly. How it is abuse? Abuse is doing CPT from day 1 in college or full time job through consulting companies or some job in different city.

Yeah, may be I was wrong. But your case was pretty much similar to the cases where students abused CPT.  If you think that your wife didn't abuse any CPT rules then she is good to go.

[jairichi]

Not just "many" but "all" students who took that course need to have taken CPT if it is an integral part of curriculum i.e. it is compulsory to do that in order to graduate.

[abhi19]

Guys, we got approval for OPT after submitting all documents. We prepared all answers with proof/evidence and it worked. Bottomline from my experience is  you should follow all rules correctly and have all documents to prove.  

 

 

TO other members like JoeF & Jairichi: 

 

CPT can not be mandatory anywhere, It is always part of electives. Because when you apply for  CPT / Interns in company you need to clear interviews to get offer to work.  It is not possible to get whole class selected in some company or for any company to offer intern to full class. So if you get a offer and decide to do CPT then you get Credit towards your program, if you don't get offer to work then you take electives to get units/credit

 

I am not making this statement out of blue..I did CPT during recession in 2008 hardly 10% of students in my class got chance to do Intern and I was student in California State University. And now my wife did CPT from another university. 

[JoeF]

Guys, we got approval for OPT after submitting all documents. We prepared all answers with proof/evidence and it worked. Bottomline from my experience is  you should follow all rules correctly and have all documents to prove.  

 

 

TO other members like JoeF & Jairichi: 

 

CPT can not be mandatory anywhere, It is always part of electives. Because when you apply for  CPT / Interns in company you need to clear interviews to get offer to work.  It is not possible to get whole class selected in some company or for any company to offer intern to full class.

 

Sorry, you are wrong.

CPT has to be an integral part of the curriculum. That means that all people taking the class have to do an internship. It doesn't have to be all at the same company, but everybody would have to be required to do an internship. It can't be a choice. That's abuse of CPT.

And even if you managed to get OPT, this can still come back to bite later.

[abhi19]

How it is logical to get every one in class an Internship? What if student don't get Internship offers. I did search CPT guidelines on UC systems and Santa Clara University, CSU San Jose, San Diego, Hayward....no where it is mandatory, not sure how you got this information. 

 

Any way I do not want to stretch this more...... Thanks for your time. 

[JoeF]

How it is logical to get every one in class an Internship? What if student don't get Internship offers. I did search CPT guidelines on UC systems and Santa Clara University, CSU San Jose, San Diego, Hayward....no where it is mandatory, not sure how you got this information.

Any way I do not want to stretch this more...... Thanks for your time.

That's what being "an integral part of the curriculum" means. It is in the law.

And the university would make sure that everybody who takes the course gets an internship. That's how these things are done. Competent university personnel knows that.

[JoeF]

How it is logical to get every one in class an Internship? What if student don't get Internship offers. I did search CPT guidelines on UC systems and Santa Clara University, CSU San Jose, San Diego, Hayward....no where it is mandatory, not sure how you got this information. 

 

Any way I do not want to stretch this more...... Thanks for your time. 

 

And your "research" wasn't all that thorough...

I found this within a few seconds of search:

http://www.cs.ucla.edu/curricular-practical-training-cpt/

"Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is a work authorization that allows students with an F-1 visa  to engage in an off-campus academic internship that is a required or that is an integral part of their academic curriculum."

Exactly what I have said here...

Just in case you didn't know, UCLA is a university in the UC system that you claimed to have searched...

How come you didn't find this??? Is it because you didn't search at all?

[Saikiran6235]

hey guys can anyone help me out with this opt rfe issue I got this rfe on April 10 and I am stuck with this last point where they are asking about the employer and I applied for the initial opt and did not take cpt. I will attach the document below, thank you.

[KrantiDhondi]

Hi SaiKiran

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:53 PM, Saikiran6235 said:

hey guys can anyone help me out with this opt rfe issue I got this rfe on April 10 and I am stuck with this last point where they are asking about the employer and I applied for the initial opt and did not take cpt. I will attach the document below, thank you.

Hi SaiKiran,

 

Can you please let me know if your case is approved?

I also got the same RFE, replied to RFE 30days back but still no update.

 

Thanks,