Please go through the article carefully and remind your lawer to email USCIS ( Address given below) for change of status within 30 days after you receive the positive receipt from USCIS.
USCIS to Allow F-1 Students Opportunity to Request Change of Status
WASHINGTON—U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it
would allow F-1 students who are the beneficiaries of selected H-1B
petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2009 to request a change of status in
lieu of consular notification.
This short-term measure
follows an April 8, 2008 interim final rule that, among other actions,
automatically extends the F-1 status of qualifying students who are the
beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions to cover the gap between the
expiration of a student’s F-1 status and the H-1B employment start date
of October 1. To obtain the automatic extension, a student must be the
beneficiary of an H-1B petition filed for the next fiscal year (with an
October 1 employment start date) and have requested a change of
status. For F-1 student beneficiaries of petitions that USCIS
subsequently rejects, denies, or revokes, or for those who violate
their status, the automatic extension terminates at that time.
Since the rule was published after the filing period had closed for new
FY 2009 H-1B petitions, many petitioners of F-1 students did not
include a request for a change of status with the H-1B petition.
Instead, petitioners requested consular notification based on the
assumption that these students would have been required to leave the
United States to obtain an H-1B visa at a consular office abroad.
USCIS has determined that it will allow petitioners of F-1 students
whose H-1B petitions were randomly selected to receive an H-1B visa
number for FY2009 following the closure of the filing period, to now
request a change of status on behalf of qualified beneficiaries, if
such requests are received within 30 days of the issuance of the
receipt notice.
To request a change of status in lieu
of consular notification, petitioners (or authorized representatives)
should send an e-mail with the request to the USCIS service center
where their petition is pending within 30 days of the issuance of the
receipt notice. Special email addresses for each service center have
been established specifically for this purpose. These addresses are
listed below and are posted on USCIS’ website. Petitioners should
e-mail their requests for change of status in lieu of consular
notification upon receipt of the notice so the agency has the request
before completing H-1B petition adjudication. The requests should
include the receipt number and both the petitioner’s and beneficiary’s
name, date of birth, I-94 (Arrival/Departure Record) number, and
Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) number. Please
do not contact the service center about requesting a change of status
until after receiving the receipt notice.
E-mail addresses for requesting change of status are:
VermontService Center
Premium Processing cases: VSCPPCAPGAP.Vscppcapgap@dhs.gov
Non-Premium cases: VSCNONPPCAPGAP.Vscnonppcapgap@dhs.gov
CaliforniaService Center
Premium Processing cases: CSC.ppcapgap@dhs.gov
Non-Premium cases: CSC.nonppcapgap@dhs.gov
NOTE: If an F-1 student, who is the beneficiary of a selected 2009
H-1B petition, has a pending request to change to a status other than
H-1B but now wants to file under the process outlined above, he or she
should withdraw the previously filed change in accordance with
established regulations.
Source-
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b718345b2b269110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
