<p>Hello,
Need help!
I just graduated in May of this year and i did not apply for OPT before i graduated. My school told me to apply for LCA, but how do I apply for LCA without work permit from school?? Please help!</p>
<p>A labor condition application is the first step for an employer who wants to sponsor a foreigner for an H-1B work visa. It’s filed by the employer, not you. The bad news is that the H-1B process is expensive for your employer, takes a long time (currently 6 months from application to employment start date for most situations) and the outcome is uncertain (there’s a yearly cap on the number of H-1Bs that may be issued and USCIS runs a lottery to decide which applications will be processed). </p>
<p>The quota for the fiscal year 2015 has already been reached, which means that no new H-1B applications will be accepted until April 2015 (for employment start date in October 2015 or later). There’s a few exceptions, mostly for universities, government research organizations and employees who already have an H-1B and want to transfer employers.</p>
<p>There are also exceptions for nationals of a few countries, which have their own work permit categories. For example, nationals of Mexico and Canada can apply for a TN-1 work visa, nationals of Australia for an E-3 visa and nationals of Singapore have an additional allowment of H-1B visas thanks to a treaty between the US and Singapore. </p>
<p>If you want to get the full scope on all options available to you, talk to a competent immigration lawyer. </p>
<p>Will I be considered out-of-status if I do not have a job or sponsor by the time the next semester, which is in Aug starts?</p>
<p>If you already graduated, you can legally stay in the US for up to 60 days after your program end date. This is your “grace period.” Your program end date should be the last day of your last term, including finals but not the actual graduation ceremony.</p>
<p>In order to stay legally past the grace period, you’d have to apply for OPT or file for change of status to a different visa type within the grace period.</p>
<p>Please note that you CAN still apply for post-graduation OPT during your grace period. You should hurry because your grace period should be up any day now. Once you apply for OPT, you can legally stay while your OPT application is being processed, but you cannot start working until you receive your EAD card. </p>