Conditions For Companies Who Accept OPT / EAD Candidates

Companies accepting OPT and EAD candidates

Employee must have EAD in their hands before they start the employment. An international cannot start working unless the date on the EAS has been reached. The same applies when the end date has reached the employee is no more considered legally eligible to work. The small EAD must be possessed by the candidate before he can join the company for the work. This very important distinction, it is not enough to have EAD approval either from the USCIS website or in paper form. A person in possession of a valid and unexpired EAD may work in the USA only during the validity dates written on the EAD itself.

Once EAD card is expired it is not assured that the EAD will be renewed, in some cases it is renewed while other cases it would be reject. The candidate will know whether the EAD is renewable or not and depending on that the employer can file for the renewal application. For those who are applying for

If the EAD of the employee has expired and yet not renewed then he is not allowed to work until the new EAD card gets activated. The company has to give the employee leave in such conditions. If the EAD card takes more than six weeks then the employee can be suspended from the work. A pending EAD application does not provide permission to work, so persons with a pending EAD application cannot work in the USA. Thus employer has to be given assurance that employee would get the new EAD renewed within 100days of the expiration.

Companies hiring OPT students has to be strict about the field of the candidate which should relate with their degree. The students having OPT can work for more than more one employer at a time following the criteria that their job should match their degree.


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Any person possessing EAD can work more for than one employer within the USA premises. Thus to remain under the activated is important to keep the work going on when in OPT status. Same applies when the EAD application id under renewal process with USCIS. The exception lies with the case of OPT students having STEM extension who are permitted. The student can get benefit of this only if the EAD application was filed before the OPT-EAD expiration.

Companies who accept the OPT/EAD candidates their HR in the interview carry the I-9 form. Fort those companies who are not aware of the I-9 it is advisable for the candidates to carry the form at the time of interview. The new I-9 form gives the legal permission to candidate for work.

The I-9 form had version old and new. New is better compared to the old form which was problematic and did not have specifications mentioned properly which can be proof of Employment Authorization Document eligibility. The company might still prefer the old I-9 form, but the candidate must always be assured of filing the new I-9 form. Even while self-carrying the form; it is advisable to print the new form only because if the candidate does not go with the upgraded EAD form then it may be perceived as he is not allowed to work.

Some time on job interview the candidate needs to provide information to management to make them comfortable as sales man try to sale new product to client. Interview process is more of promoting, marketing & sale the skills providing several options to interviewers to choose from.

There can possibly rejection of the candidate based on the discrimination and other reason which stops the company from doing international hiring is that they may not be ready to invest time in filing the application and take out the hefty fees for application filing. Also if the candidate is on EAD and the expiry dates are near, the employer might hesitate because in the case of expiry the employee cannot work. Discrimination laws are on paper so no one can pin point on that even not getting selected by company so it is unrealistic to sue company or show the discrimination rule to company that not hired you.

The candidate should believe in himself and have the sufficient self-confidence. The only way to crack the interview is provide the sufficient information because the companies who accept the OPT/EAD candidates do lot of investigation before hiring them as their permanent employee. If the company is not willing to hire the candidate then no matter what the candidate does or no matter how much eligible or talented the candidate is, if the company is not interested they will no hire at any cost.

The companies who accept OPT candidates have to go through lot of pain and follow all  the rules and regulated implemented over them or forced upon them by the USCIS for any international person walling in their office for the interview and willing to work under opt jobs or H1B.


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The candidate or any external entity cannot force the prospective employer to hire the particular student on EAD because if such a thing happens then from next time they would simply calling international students for interview who possess EAD! No one can hire anyone or no system/laws can force to hire anyone it is only employer choice so candidate needs to fall in category of the liking to employer during interview.

Being non-immigrant the candidate has to take care of each and every minor detail mentioned in the norms of the USCIS. Every student when entering the USA has the goals of making career in USA and thus helps business and people of USA prosper.
The dependent of H1B visa holder who are on the H4 status can get the EAD which is not restricted to particular type of employment. They can work as full or part time, multiple employers, short-term multiple employers, independent contractor who is self-employed, business owner, employment through a staffing agency, paid, unpaid internship, or not working at all.

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If an H-1B holder loses a job and falls out of status, the H-4 holder would also go out of status. It really will depend on the specific circumstances of the H-1B holder’s situation and a qualified immigration attorney should be contacted if this situation arises. Companies who accept candidates on the H4 status have to take care of all the criteria and the personal background of the related candidate. EAD generally takes 90 days so the companies willing to hire candidate on H4 status has to show readiness for the due period. If there is emergency in the company then the process can expedite but in limited circumstances. The candidates who company accepted on EAD can later become the partner or sponsor of the company. There is no forced relationship of employee and employer like the H1B visa sponsorship jobs.

When companies who accept EAD candidate provide the H1B petition then the status of that candidate changes from EAD to H1B when he receives the visa approval.

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