Here goes the story of my OPT, something that has kept me intensely frustrated for the last 3-4 days.
- On about the 15th of May I approached ISC (the International student center at KSU), letting them know that I wanted to apply for OPT. It took them about a week to generate a new I-20 for me and to review my application. On about the 20th of May, I posted the OPT packet .... to Nebraska service center.
- On 4th June, I received something from Nebraska: My application packet was rejected. On one of the forms submitted as part of the OPT application, I had indicated that I would like to receive my OPT card at Philadelphia address because I may not be in Kansas when the card would arrive. Philadelphia falls under Vermont serive center, not Nebraska. I would therefore have to apply to Vermont, it said.
- Now, I always thought the service center to which you apply depends on your university. So K-state students would always apply to Nebraska for OPT, I thought. My bad. But the ISC, when reviewing my application never pointed out to me that having a differnt "state" address on form 765, alters the application course so drastically. But anyway.
- On 5th June I went back to ISC asking them for an advice. I asked them: 1. Should I send my application packet to Vermont? OR 2. Should I put a Kansas address of some friend in Manhattan on form 765 and send the packet to Nebraska? Is the Nebraska service center any different or faster than Vermont Service center in processing applications etc, I asked. A lady at the ISC adviced me to send the packet to Vermont. All service centers are the same she said, there is no difference!
- On 6th June I sent my application to Vermont. And now I realize what a joke it was on part of ISC in saying that all service centers are similar. Since the 8th of June my case is pending with the Vermont center. Last week I sent them an expedite request to process my application faster. This request was rejected, the ISC now says that Vermont center does not accept expedite processing requests.
The result: I still do not have my OPT card and I may not be able to start work on 20th July! And it is so damn frustrating. Everyone asks me why did I not start the OPT application earlier than 15th of May. The answer to this is that you are supposed to apply for OPT in your graduating semester, not the semester before that. So as soon as spring-end was approaching, I approached ISC with my OPT application. Now while I am not starting any blame-game here, I cannot help thinking what was ISC doing all this time in advicing me to send the application to Vermont. They should have made it explicit, very clear, to the point of warning me that application processing at a center other than Nebraska would be time consuming. They had a chance to do it twice, but I was never warned!
My advice to K-state students who would be applying for an OPT:
1. Always put a local address on form 765 so that your application would be processed at Nebraska.
2. Do not blindly trust ISC. Make sure you've filled up the forms correct, attached all required documents etc.
As far as I'm concerned, its the beginning of a painful wait for me :(
- On about the 15th of May I approached ISC (the International student center at KSU), letting them know that I wanted to apply for OPT. It took them about a week to generate a new I-20 for me and to review my application. On about the 20th of May, I posted the OPT packet .... to Nebraska service center.
- On 4th June, I received something from Nebraska: My application packet was rejected. On one of the forms submitted as part of the OPT application, I had indicated that I would like to receive my OPT card at Philadelphia address because I may not be in Kansas when the card would arrive. Philadelphia falls under Vermont serive center, not Nebraska. I would therefore have to apply to Vermont, it said.
- Now, I always thought the service center to which you apply depends on your university. So K-state students would always apply to Nebraska for OPT, I thought. My bad. But the ISC, when reviewing my application never pointed out to me that having a differnt "state" address on form 765, alters the application course so drastically. But anyway.
- On 5th June I went back to ISC asking them for an advice. I asked them: 1. Should I send my application packet to Vermont? OR 2. Should I put a Kansas address of some friend in Manhattan on form 765 and send the packet to Nebraska? Is the Nebraska service center any different or faster than Vermont Service center in processing applications etc, I asked. A lady at the ISC adviced me to send the packet to Vermont. All service centers are the same she said, there is no difference!
- On 6th June I sent my application to Vermont. And now I realize what a joke it was on part of ISC in saying that all service centers are similar. Since the 8th of June my case is pending with the Vermont center. Last week I sent them an expedite request to process my application faster. This request was rejected, the ISC now says that Vermont center does not accept expedite processing requests.
The result: I still do not have my OPT card and I may not be able to start work on 20th July! And it is so damn frustrating. Everyone asks me why did I not start the OPT application earlier than 15th of May. The answer to this is that you are supposed to apply for OPT in your graduating semester, not the semester before that. So as soon as spring-end was approaching, I approached ISC with my OPT application. Now while I am not starting any blame-game here, I cannot help thinking what was ISC doing all this time in advicing me to send the application to Vermont. They should have made it explicit, very clear, to the point of warning me that application processing at a center other than Nebraska would be time consuming. They had a chance to do it twice, but I was never warned!
My advice to K-state students who would be applying for an OPT:
1. Always put a local address on form 765 so that your application would be processed at Nebraska.
2. Do not blindly trust ISC. Make sure you've filled up the forms correct, attached all required documents etc.
As far as I'm concerned, its the beginning of a painful wait for me :(
1 comment:
If I may ask, did you get your card from Vermont? Do you still remember how long did it take?
Thank you very much, and I will really appreciate your answer.
-- a person who is in a similar situation
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