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Italy introduces digital nomad visa for remote workers, ET TravelWorld News, ET TravelWorld

admin — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 10:12:03 +0000

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Italy has introduced a new visa for digital nomads, allowing remote workers the opportunity to work and travel in the country. This visa, effective as of 4 April, permits non-EU passport holders to stay and work long-term in Italy.

The visa requires applicants to be ‘highly skilled’ remote workers, defined as those who can work remotely using advanced technological tools. Applicants must earn a minimum annual salary of EUR 28,000, have a college degree or professional license, and demonstrate six months of relevant work experience.

Additionally, they need to show proof of lodging in Italy and healthcare coverage. Family members can also apply, subject to approval from local authorities. The permit, valid for one year and renewable annually, is specifically for those capable of working remotely from Italy.

The UK Home Office said it marks the final measure in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly’s package to reduce legal migration and “ensure those arriving here do not burden the taxpayer”. “We have reached a tipping point with mass migration. There is no simple solution or easy decision which cuts numbers to levels acceptable to the British people,” said Cleverly.

The final decision on family permits lies with Italy’s police headquarters. Italy’s move to introduce this visa aims to attract high-income foreign workers. Japan, for instance, offers visas to digital nomads earning over USD 63,000 annually. The goal is to boost economic development by enticing skilled professionals to work and reside in these countries.

Published On Apr 13, 2024 at 03:42 PM IST

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Higher salary threshold for UK Family Visa comes into force, ET TravelWorld News, ET TravelWorld

admin — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 14:48:35 +0000

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Home Secretary James Cleverly emphasized that the overall plan aims to reduce net migration to the UK by an estimated 300,000 people compared to the previous year
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Home Secretary James Cleverly emphasized that the overall plan aims to reduce net migration to the UK by an estimated 300,000 people compared to the previous year

The minimum income required for British citizens and residents, including those of Indian heritage, wanting to sponsor their relatives on a Family Visa increased by over 55 per cent from Thursday, as the incremental increase in salary thresholds announced by the government last year are enforced. Starting Thursday, for someone to be sponsored to come to the UK on a Family Visa, they must have a minimum annual salary of GBP 29,000, up from GBP 18,600. By early next year, this will have increased two more times to match the Skilled Worker visa salary threshold of GBP 38,700. The UK Home Office said it marks the final measure in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly‘s package to reduce legal migration and “ensure those arriving here do not burden the taxpayer”.

“We have reached a tipping point with mass migration. There is no simple solution or easy decision which cuts numbers to levels acceptable to the British people,” said Cleverly.

“I promised action and we have delivered at remarkable speed. We’ve acted to cut unsustainable numbers, to protect British workers and their wages, to ensure those bringing family to the UK do not burden taxpayers, and to build an immigration system fit for the future – and one the public can rightly have confidence in,” he said.

“Whether it was words unsupported by action, unfounded optimism or just plain wishful thinking that migration would fall on its own, indifference of any kind is never going to work – only determined action, backed by strong resolve, will deliver needed change,” the minister added.

The move had been criticised by the Opposition when it was first tabled in the House of Commons in December 2023. It led the government to opt for a more staged approach to the salary threshold hike, rather than an immediate hike to GBP 38,700, as previously indicated.

“I think the principle here is right, that if people are bringing dependents into this country as part of their family, they must be able to support them. We’re increasing the salary threshold significantly, and we’re going exactly as we said we were doing it – we’re just doing it in two stages,” Sunak said at the time.

The Home Office said the staged approach to increasing the income requirement for the Family Visa gives predictability to families, enabling them to plan accordingly, whilst ensuring that anyone coming to the UK to be with their family or loved ones is supported financially.

“The income requirement, which had remained unchanged for more than a decade, helps to ensure families are self-sufficient and not relying on public funds, whilst making a positive impact on the economy. The sponsoring family member, or in combination with the applicant if they are in the UK with permission to work, must now have an income of at least GBP 29,000 earned in the UK. The requirement can be met in several ways, including through savings exclusively or in addition to a lower income,” the Home Office said.

It follows the Sunak-led government’s steps to cut migration, current levels of which are seen as too high – “putting pressure on public services, housing, and undercutting British workers”.

“The government’s ambition for a high-skill, a high-wage economy cannot rely on mass migration, and measures introduced as part of the package will protect British workers, encourage business to invest in, and recruit, workers domestically while prioritising only the very best talent from abroad,” the Home Office noted.

The latest measure is part of a wider package unveiled last year, which the Home Office says will mean approximately 300,000 people arriving in the UK last year would no longer be able to. Since the beginning of this year, several visa norms have been tightened as part of the package.

“The ability to work for two years post-graduation helps international students to earn money to help pay for their degrees and enable some to get valuable work experience as well as to continue to build strong links with the UK,” said Lord Karan Bilimoria, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on International Students and patron of NISAU UK.

The steps taken by the government included ending the ability of nearly all students to bring dependants to the UK; restricting care workers from bringing family members; increasing the minimum salary required for those arriving on the Skilled Worker visa, from GBP 26,200 to GBP 38,700; and replacing the Shortage Occupation List with a new Immigration Salary List, aimed at blocking employers from paying migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations.

Published On Apr 12, 2024 at 08:18 PM IST

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New Zealand tightens visa rules amid near record migration, ET TravelWorld News, ET TravelWorld

admin — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 12:00:56 +0000

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New Zealand said on Sunday that it was making immediate changes to its employment visa program after a near record migration last year which it said was “unsustainable”.

The changes include measures such as introducing English language requirement for low skilled jobs and setting a minimum skills and work experience threshold for most employer work visas. The maximum continuous stay for most low skilled roles will also be reduced to three years from five years.

“The Government is focused on attracting and retaining the highly skilled migrants such as secondary teachers, where there is a skill shortage,” Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said in a statement.

“At the same time we need to ensure that New Zealanders are put to the front of the line for jobs where there are no skills shortages,” she said.

Last year, a near record 173,000 people migrated to New Zealand, the statement said.

“The ability to work for two years post-graduation helps international students to earn money to help pay for their degrees and enable some to get valuable work experience as well as to continue to build strong links with the UK,” said Lord Karan Bilimoria, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on International Students and patron of NISAU UK.

New Zealand, which has a population of about 5.1 million, has seen a rapid growth in its migrant numbers since the end of the pandemic, raising concerns last year that it was fanning inflation. Neighbouring Australia, which has also seen a big jump in migrants, has said it would halve its migrant intake over the next two years.

Published On Apr 9, 2024 at 05:30 PM IST

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Indian student group begins ‘Fair Visa, Fair Chance’ campaign in UK, ET TravelWorld

admin — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:57:35 +0000

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One of the UK‘s prominent Indian student representative organisations on Thursday began a new “Fair Visa, Fair Chance” campaign in favour of the post-study Graduate Route visa, which has proved hugely popular with students from India since its launch around three years ago. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK, which had originally campaigned for the visa that allows international graduates the chance to gain work experience for two years after their degree, fears the ongoing review of the route would reverse the progress made.

The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been commissioned to review the Graduate Route visa by UK Home Secretary James Cleverly to ensure it is “fit for purpose” and is expected to report by next month.

“The ability to work for two years post-graduation helps international students to earn money to help pay for their degrees and enable some to get valuable work experience as well as to continue to build strong links with the UK,” said Lord Karan Bilimoria, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on International Students and patron of NISAU UK.

“We are in a global race and have to offer post-graduation work opportunities that are attractive in competing with countries, such as the United States of America, Canada, and Australia. The fear of the removal of the two-year post-graduation work visa is sending out unnecessary and damaging negative messages around the world, and universities are already seeing a huge decline in international students’ applications,” he said.

He also warned that Britain would be “shooting itself in the foot” if the Graduate Route was curtailed given that international students contribute GBP 42 billion to the UK economy.

Since its relaunch for the 2020-21 cohort of international students, the Home Office says a total of 213,250 visas have been granted under the route – with Indians consistently dominating as the largest group of students granted leave to remain with 43 per cent of grants last year.

“It is very sad that a mere few years on from the re-introduction of post-study working in the UK, we are having to once again make the case to defend it. The Graduate visa is a key requirement of Indian students and a critical offer of the UK’s international higher education system,” said Sanam Arora, NISAU UK chair and Commissioner of the UK’s International Higher Education Commission.

“We campaigned for seven years to bring it back last time and will fight to protect this essential pathway again. Without the Graduate route, university finances may collapse. The impact of this not just on international students but also on UK’s home students will be bad, given domestic students and the world-class research that happens in UK universities is heavily cross-subsidised by international students,” she said.

NISAU UK has been invited to present evidence to MAC and it plans to share its own research and learnings from the annual India-UK Achievers Honours programme, which celebrates high-achieving Indian graduates from the UK who have made exceptional contributions to their respective fields and society at large.

Indian students have already begun to show signs of being turned off from applying to British universities, with the latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) figures revealing a four per cent drop in applications from India.

However, the Home Office pointed to MAC analysis which revealed that the number of international post-graduate students attending institutions with the lowest UCAS entry requirements has increased by over 250 per cent between 2018 and 2022, bringing its mantra of attracting the “brightest and the best” into question.

The successful programme that has attracted thousands of Chinese launched in 2014 granting foreigners a renewable, five-year residence permit in return for a 250,000-euro property investment. The finance ministry announced that from Sunday, the threshold would climb to 800,000 euros in attractive regions, such as Attica, around Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the islands with a population of over 3,100.

In its annual report finalised before the review was announced in Parliament at the end of last year, MAC said: “More fundamentally, we suggest that the government needs to decide what the purpose of the Graduate Route is. If its primary objective is to enhance the offer to international students who choose to study in the UK and so increase the number of international students in higher education, then it appears to have been a resounding success.”

“If the objective is to attract talented students who will subsequently work in high-skilled graduate jobs, then we are sceptical that it adds much to the Skilled Worker route which was already available to switch into after graduation, and we expect that at least a significant fraction of the Graduate Route will comprise low-wage workers,” it said.

Published On Apr 5, 2024 at 01:27 PM IST

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Japan begins issuing eVisas for Indian tourists; Here’s how to apply and use the eVisa, ET TravelWorld

admin — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 11:47:34 +0000

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Indians who want to visit Japan will no longer need to get physical visa stickers on their passports. Starting April 1, Japan has begun issuing eVisas for Indian tourists. The much-awaited Japan eVisa program allows individuals to apply for visas electronically through Japan Visa Application Centers operated by VFS Global.

This initiative offers a single-entry short-term visa catering specifically to tourism purposes, granting a stay of up to 90 days in Japan. Both Indian citizens and foreign nationals residing in India are eligible to apply for this eVisa.

Under the new system, applicants are required to submit their applications to the Visa Application Centers managed by VFS Global, similar to the previous process. However, instead of receiving a traditional visa sticker affixed to their passports, successful applicants will obtain an electronic visa.

The operational process of the eVisa involves travelers presenting a “visa issuance notice” on their phones upon arrival at the airport. It’s important to note that access to the internet is necessary for this step. Any format other than a digital visa issuance notice, such as a PDF, photo, screenshot, or printed copy, will not be accepted.

Applicants can still submit their application forms at any of the five Visa Application Centers free of cost. Alternatively, they have the option to drop their documents at any US Document Dropoff Center in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Cochin, Jalandhar, or Pune for a fee of 850 rupees per application.

How to display “visa issuance notice”

When checking-in at the airport, you will be requested to display a “visa issuance notice” on your device. Travel agency will provide you a “Visa Issuance Notice” (printed or pdf data) with two dimensional barcode.

Scan the two dimensional barcode with your device and enter the required information to display the notice.

By tapping “Display“, the electronic “visa issuance notice” appears and the countdown timer shown at the top right starts immediately. This countdown proves that the notice is valid.

1. Scan the two dimensional barcode printed on the “Visa Issuance Notice” (pdf). Please note that the two dimensional barcode will be given individually.
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1. Scan the two dimensional barcode printed on the “Visa Issuance Notice” (pdf). Please note that the two dimensional barcode will be given individually.

2. Enter required information then tap “Display”.
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2. Enter required information then tap “Display”.

3. “Visa issuance notice” will be displayed on your device. Make sure the timer counts down at the top right.
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3. “Visa issuance notice” will be displayed on your device. Make sure the timer counts down at the top right.

Published On Apr 3, 2024 at 05:17 PM IST

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Greek islands launch special visa program for Turkish visitors in diplomatic effort to calm region, ET TravelWorld

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 08:30:00 +0000

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Officials on the Greek island of Rhodes opened a new vacation visa terminal for Turkish visitors Monday as part of a diplomatic effort to ease long-standing tensions between the two countries.

The limited-access visa will allow Turks to visit 10 Greek islands for up to a week without having to apply for full access to the European Union’s passport-free travel zone, known as the Schengen area.

NATO members Greece and Turkey launched several initiatives last year to try and sidestep decades-old disputes – mostly over sea boundaries and mineral rights in the Aegean Sea- to focus on trade.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in December to sign a series of bilateral cooperation agreements in Athens. Mitsotakis will visit Turkey next month. “The express visa can be issued not only in summer, but all year round. The measure is designed to boost tourism in areas and at times of the year when there is not a lot of traffic, so it will help the local economies,” Mitsotakis wrote in a weekly online post Sunday.

Granted at participating Greek ports, the new visa will cost 60 euros and will include a passport check and fingerprint recording, while visitors will not be allowed to travel onto other EU member states, Greek officials said.

“The new system is ready and there is a lot of demand from Turkish visitors. But there were no boats scheduled to arrive today. We will have arrivals later this week,” Vassilis Vayiannakis, head of the Rhodes Port Fund, told the AP.

These power-packed events brought together over 500 travel agents, tour operators, and key stakeholders from the Indian travel trade associations. The STA delegation engaged extensively with participants, showcasing Saudi Arabia’s commitment to fostering strategic partnerships and long-term business collaborations in India. In addition to the networking events, STA actively participated in prominent trade shows like OTM in Mumbai and SATTE in Greater Noida.

The islands in the vacation visa program all lie near the Turkish coastline and also include Lesbos, Limnos, Chios, Samos, Leros, Kalymnos, Kos, Symi and Kastellorizo, with the smaller islands due to join in June. Turkey has long sought more relaxed travel rules for its citizens visiting the EU in exchange for its cooperation with member states of the bloc that include efforts to curb illegal immigration. Tourism is a vital industry for the Greek economy. The country welcomed 32.7 million visitors last year, raising 20.5 billion euros, according to central bank data.

Published On Apr 2, 2024 at 02:00 PM IST

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Petition calls on UK government to reconsider healthcare visa term, ET TravelWorld

admin — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 11:10:03 +0000

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An online petition which urges the UK government to allow foreign healthcare workers, a large chunk of them from India, more time to find a job after their sponsors fail them has attracted hundreds of signatures within days.

Under tougher rules that came into effect earlier this month, care providers in England acting as sponsors for migrants are required to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the industry regulator for Health and Social Care, a move the government said will tackle abuse within the sector.

However, the consequence of this crackdown is that many innocent workers from countries such as India find themselves abandoned when a previously legitimate sponsor loses their licence, with only 60 days to find alternative employment in the sector.

“Sixty days is a very short notice for a family to arrange departure as it could unsettle their children’s schooling, lead to loss of rent or deposit, furnishing costs, air ticket and relocation costs,” reads the petition launched by UK-based Indian-origin professional Balakrishnan Balagopal.

“Several healthcare workers who arrived in UK are left without jobs as their sponsors are unable to provide them with one or that there wasn’t a job available for them when they arrived. Some firms lose their licence to sponsor due to their own mistakes…The request is to extend jobless health workers’ stay in the UK for one more year for them to secure another job,” it adds.

The petition, launched on the UK Parliament website over the weekend, is intended to shed light on a pressing issue and after 10,000 signatures will require a response from the government.

According to Balagopal, hundreds of healthcare workers who arrived in the UK to meet shortages in the social care sector since 2022 are stuck in a situation not of their making. Many firms who had promised them jobs lost their licence to sponsor due to errors beyond the workers’ control and others found that the promised job never materialised.

Earlier this month, the UK Home Office said it has evidence that care workers have been offered visas under false pretences, travelling thousands of miles for jobs that simply don’t exist or to be paid far below the minimum wage required for their work and exploiting them. It sought to crackdown on the abuse of the system, including a ban on international care workers bringing their dependent family members when migrating to the UK.

“Care workers make an incredible contribution to our society, taking care of our loved ones in times of need. But we cannot justify inaction in the face of clear abuse, manipulation of our immigration system and unsustainable migration numbers. It is neither right nor fair to allow this unacceptable situation to continue,” said UK Home Secretary James Cleverly.

With the letters starting to go out to those affected in recent weeks, the fallout of the crackdown is expected to hundreds already in the country and left in the lurch due to no fault of their own.

“Sending these workers back to their home countries and having care homes struggle to find adequate staffing may lead to severe healthcare implications for the UK population. By addressing these concerns, we can ensure that the healthcare system remains robust and capable of meeting the needs of those it serves,” says Balagopal, who hopes his petition can help draw attention to this injustice.

His campaign intends to lobby the authorities to adopt a more compassionate stance that addresses the pressing social care needs of British society and the wellbeing of foreign workers simultaneously.

From Saturday, English language requirements for student and graduate visas will be increased, while the government will get the power to suspend education providers from recruiting international students if they repeatedly break rules.

According to official statistics from the past year, an estimated 140,000 visas were issued to overseas workers to come to the UK to meet staff shortages in the UK’s health and care industry and 39,000 of these went to Indians.

Published On Mar 26, 2024 at 04:40 PM IST

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Australia tightens student visa rules as migration hits record high, ET TravelWorld

admin — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 10:09:24 +0000

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Australia will begin enforcing tougher visa rules for foreign students this week as official data showed migration hit another record high, which is likely to further exacerbate an already tight rental market.

From Saturday, English language requirements for student and graduate visas will be increased, while the government will get the power to suspend education providers from recruiting international students if they repeatedly break rules.

“The actions this weekend will continue to drive migration levels down while delivering on our commitments in the migration strategy to fix the broken system we inherited,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in a statement.

A new “genuine student test” will be introduced to further crack down on international students who look to come to Australia primarily to work, while the imposition of “no further stay” conditions will be used on more visitor visas.

The moves follow a raft of actions last year to close off COVID-era concessions introduced by the former government, including unrestricted working hours for international students. The government at the time said rules would be tightened for students that could halve its migrant intake over two years.

Australia boosted its annual migration numbers in 2022 to help businesses recruit staff to fill shortages after the COVID-19 pandemic brought strict border controls, and kept foreign students and workers out for nearly two years.

But the sudden influx of foreign workers and students has exacerbated pressure on an already tight rental market.

Date released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed net immigration rose 60 per cent to a record 548,800 in the year to Sept. 30, 2023, higher than the 518,000 people in the year ending June 2023.

Overall, Australia’s population rose 2.5 per cent- the fastest pace on record – to 26.8 million people in the year to last September.

In 2023, Indian students in the United States were issued a total of 130,839 F-1 student visas, marking a 14% increase from the previous year, according to an Education Times report. This makes it the second consecutive year where Indians received more US student visas than any other country. Additionally, the total number of F-1 student visas issued in the US in 2023 reached approximately 446,000, an 8.5% rise from 2022 and the highest in a single year since 2016.

The record migration – driven by students from India, China and Philippines – has expanded labour supply and restrained wage pressures, but it exacerbated an already tight housing market where rental vacancies hovered at record lows and elevated construction costs restricted new supply. O’Neil said the government’s actions since September have led to a decline in migration levels, with recent international student visa grants down by 35 per cent on the previous year.

Published On Mar 22, 2024 at 03:39 PM IST

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Russia discusses visa-free travel agreements with Asian, African, Middle Eastern countries, ET TravelWorld

admin — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:14:00 +0000

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Russia discusses visa-free travel agreements with Asian, African, Middle Eastern countries
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Russia discusses visa-free travel agreements with Asian, African, Middle Eastern countries

Russia‘s Foreign Ministry announced that they are negotiating visa-free travel agreements with some countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as reported by TASS. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a briefing, announced the plan.

“Concerning plans to expand the list of countries with which we have mutual visa-free travel, we certainly have them. Currently, negotiations are underway with a number of Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries,” she said.

In this regard, the diplomat recalled that “information on established unilateral visa-free travel is usually published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website and its accounts on social media.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, said that Russia is working to establish a visa-free regime with all Persian Gulf countries, reported TASS. He further emphasised that the work is going on systematically.

“In principle, such work is going on systematically. Because, of course, I think it is in the interests of our countries and peoples to communicate and to promote joint business and tourism,” he said, answering the relevant question.

Moreover, Bogdanov stated that efforts in this direction were in progress with all countries in the Persian Gulf, according to TASS.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that intergovernmental agreements were being drafted on visa-free travel by individuals to Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Zambia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Meanwhile, the duration of temporary suspension of the visa exemption has been increased from 9 to 12 months and can be extended by another 24 months (instead of 18 months under the current system). During this suspension phase, the European Commission will engage in a dialogue with the third country in order to take steps to remedy the circumstances that led to the suspension.

Published On Mar 21, 2024 at 02:44 PM IST

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Indian students issued record number of student visas in the US, F-1 regulations updated, ET TravelWorld

admin — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 02:37:00 +0000

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Indian students in the United States were issued a total of 1,30,839 F-1 student visas in 2023, witnessing a 14 per cent surge from 2022, says an ApplyBoard report.

The report says study permit trends in the US has indicated that this is the second year in a row, when Indians received more US student visas than students from any other country.

In 2023, the quantity of F1 student visas granted exceeded by 10,000 the total number of visas issued to the leading four East Asian markets collectively.

According to the report’s findings, approximately 4,46,000 F-1 student visas were issued by the US in 2023, marking an 8.5% rise from the 4,11,000 visas issued in 2022. This figure represents the largest number of student visas issued in a single year since 2016.

More than 2 lakh Indian students consider pursuing higher education in the US every year. According to the US Embassy, Indian immigrants encompass 20 per cent of the foreign student group who aim to gain the know-how of emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Especially students who desire to study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses prefer the US as their go-to destination for its quality education, frontline universities, and diverse culture.

What is an F1 visa?

An F-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables students to enter the US provinces and attend a university or college, high school, elementary school, seminary, language training program, or other academic organisation. Till now, Indian students holding an F-1 visa could avail of up to 12 months of optional practical training (OPT), pre or post-completion of their graduate studies in STEM. They could apply for another year of OPT when seeking a postsecondary degree at a higher level.

However, there were a few challenges related to the postgraduate employment visa and its transformation to a work visa, which the country aims to revamp to attract international students.

How does an F-1 visa attract Indian students to the US?

The US is already a STEM hub, with some of the world’s finest universities with high academic standards and rigorous practical training grooming global learners. However, pursuing an education in the United States is expensive, with prices varying by degree program, location, type of university, and other factors. The tuition cost of a program usually ranges from $32,000 to $60,000 per year. Furthermore, living costs are 241% more expensive than in India, ranging between $10,000 to $18,000 per annum.

In this scenario, an F-1 visa allows students to work beside their full-time academic commitment to earn a living. It permits learners to work on-campus up to 20 hours per week during the session and up to 40 hours per week during holidays. Moreover, the F-1 visa is valid for up to 5 years, during which a student can switch between academic programs or transfer to a different school by notifying the USCIS.

F-1 visas also enable students to work off-campus through OPT after completing their academic program. Learners who want to stay longer in the United States and pursue employment can apply for the OPT program and switch their student visa to an H-1B work visa for an initial three-year period. However, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) used to take about 150-210 days (5-7 months) to process Form I-765 for employment authorisation, causing delays and complications.

Revised provisions of an F-1 visa

In September 2022, the USCIS announced a revision of employment authorisation applicable from March 6 to extend a student’s retention period in the US, reduce the backlog, and enhance processing efficiency. In this policy, selected categories of students on F-1 visas who pursue studies in STEM or its allied modules can opt for an additional 24 months extension of their OPT program to find a suitable employment opportunity. Once the extension period ends, they can apply for an H-1B work visa or search for an employer willing to sponsor their work visas.

Moreover, the revised F-1 visa provision focuses on premium processing of employment authorisation. That said, a student on an F-1 visa can apply for an H-1B work visa by filling out Forms I-129, I-140, and I-765 for Employment Authorisation and Form I-907 for Requesting Premium Processing Service. The USCIS will take 15 calendar days (instead of 210) to process the applications from submission,accelerating their review process and reducing turnaround time.

Published On Mar 18, 2024 at 08:07 AM IST

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