It is a good idea for employers to revisit and remind themselves of some basic requirements for employee work authorization and employer responsibilities about once a year, to make sure that one is up to date on any new rules and fully remembering old ones. All individuals working in the United States must have legal authorization to do so and earned wages must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service for tax purposes and the Social Security Administration for potential benefit accrual.
On April 8, 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published an Interim Final Rule, effective immediately, that provides for additional Optional Practical Training (OPT) work authorization for foreign nationals in F-1 student visa status who would otherwise be limited to twelve months of OPT. The new regulation provides two types of prolonged OPT: (1) an automatic extension of OPT to bridge the “cap gap” between an employee’s OPT expiration date and the October 1st date when an approved cap-subject H-1B petition takes effect; and (2) a seventeen-month extension, upon application, of OPT for graduates of U.S. degree programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (“STEM” degrees) who have jobs related to their field of study with employers who are enrolled in the government’s E-Verify program.
