So your employee wasn’t selected in H-1B lottery . . . now what?

A day after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed the H-1B cap-subject lottery selection process in late March, the winners were eligible to start filing. But what if your employee wasn’t selected? Fortunately, numerous other options are available so your business can continue to employ valuable foreign national workers.

Optional practical training

Foreign national college students seeking to gain practical experience in their field of study have the opportunity to apply for 12 months of work authorization in the form of optional practical training (OPT) at each academic level they complete. For example, a student who completes a bachelor’s degree in finance may apply for OPT through her university and obtain work authorization to work for a local bank for 12 months after graduation.

Students participate in OPT after completing a degree, although current students also can obtain work authorization to engage in practical training through a similar program known as curricular practical training (CPT). In either instance, the appropriate college official must approve OPT/CPT, and the student must obtain an employment authorization card (EAD).

STEM OPT

University students who complete degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields may apply for an additional 24-month OPT extension. For example, an individual with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering can use 12 months of her initial OPT and then apply for a STEM OPT extension, allowing for a total work authorization period of 36 months.