OPTActionLogs

Log of every actions we take, results, responses and many more

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For any questions about Lawsuit, please first checkout Lawsuit FAQ
For those who want to participate in Robert Cohen’s Class Action, please complete Google Formas soon as possible.

Litigation Process

Here are our main Appeals (Quote from the filed complaint):

  1. Plaintiffs seek, on behalf of themselves and unnamed class members, a mandatory temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief that requires USCIS to open, process and adjudicate applications submitted by Plaintiffs and unnamed class members on an immediate basis, and to provide weekly status reports to the Court and counsel.
  2. Plaintiffs further seek, on behalf of themselves and unnamed class members, a declaration that USCIS has violated its legal obligations to open, process and adjudicate the applications submitted by Plaintiffs and unnamed class members.
  3. Plaintiffs further seek, on behalf of themselves and unnamed class members, equitable relief that relieves them of the irreparable harm that they have suffered and are threatened with suffering, including the following relief:
    (a) an order that enjoins ICE from removing Plaintiffs and unnamed class members who have lost their F-1 status while their applications remain pending with USCIS;
    (b) an order that students whose grace period expired while they were waiting for USCIS to adjudicate their applications will remain in F-1 status until at least fourteen (14) days after their application has been adjudicated;
    (c) an order that requires USCIS not to reject applications submitted by Plaintiffs and unnamed class members for technical errors where such applications cannot be corrected and resubmitted within the applicable deadlines, and instead to accept such applications, issue a receipt, and issue a Request for Evidence to correct any alleged deficiencies;
    (d) in addition or in the alternative, an order that requires USCIS to accept and consider applications that are corrected and resubmitted by Plaintiffs and unnamed class members within sixty (60) days after the date that they are rejected, notwithstanding the expiration of the applicable deadlines; and
    (e) for OPT applications, an order that permits Plaintiffs and unnamed class members to complete their full 12 months of optional practical training running from the date that their application is approved, even if USCIS’s undue delay means that they must complete it later than 14 months after the date they completed their studies.
  4. Plaintiff further seeks an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

Disclaimers:

  1. Joining the lawsuit is completely voluntary. The choice of lawyer is completely voluntary. Please note that no lawyer or Volunteer Committee forces anyone to join any litigation or promise any outcome.
  2. As of now, it is strongly recommended NOT to join two lawsuits simultaneously at this point in time as this might complicate the case for the law firms and jeopardize the lawsuit.
  3. As a reserved plaintiff, you could withdraw anytime from the class action.

Robert Cohen

Lawsuit Process (in reverse order)

🎉🎉🎉 Lawsuit Achievement: USCIS Extends Flexibilities to Certain Applicants Filing Form I-765 for OPT (2/26/2021), lawsuit is still in progress

Checkout OPT CLASS ACTION, created by Robert Cohen to provide updates to the public.

Students who want to participate in Robert Class Action, complete this Google Form ASAP, you can still be added as reserved plaintiff


03/04/2021 Update from phone call with Rob:

  1. Interim WA: No response from USCIS today (maybe tomorrow, no guarantee)
  2. Twitter is very useful, please keep on tweeting
  3. USCIS is not putting OPT as first priority compared to (DACA, etc) due to lack of public attention / exposure
  4. Slow approving speed, USCIS is not giving any other reason except covid

2/26/2021 🎉🎉🎉 Lawsuit reached first milestone, USCIS announced new policy (the lawsuit is still in progress. Next week, the lawyers will discuss with the government to address the issue of extremely long OPT processing time):

Becuase of the delays at certain lockboxes, USCIS are extending the following flexibilities to applicants who filed application after Oct. 1, 2020, through May 1, 2021:

  1. To allow F-1 students to complete the full period of requested OPT (up to 12 months), USCIS will allow the 14-month period to commence from the date of approval of the Form I-765 for applications for post-completion OPT. And F1 students may request correction if the OPT time is less than 12 months.
  2. USCIS will accept a refiled Form I-765 for OPT and STEM OPT, no need an new I-20 from school.
  3. For missing or deficient signature, USCIS will issue a Request for Evidence rather than deny the application.

For more details, please see USCIS Extends Flexibilities to Certain Applicants Filing Form I-765 for OPT

2/24/2021 The “Status of Settlement Discussions” is posted by Robert on the website OPT CLASS ACTION

2/23/2021 Robert emailed Lawsuit Update：

  1. Robert’s team met with the Government lawyers twice last week to discuss the issues raised by our complaint and they expect to continue the discussions this week.
  2. Robert created the website OPT CLASS ACTION to provide updates and information for the named plaintiffs group, other students who are members of the proposed class, and the public.

2/18/2021 Robert emailed Lawsuit Update：
Today we received a call from the Assistant US Attorneys representing the Government agencies with an offer to enter into settlement discussions. This first call was very productive and while we didn’t resolve anything in particular, we did agree on a framework for both our discussions and the nature of a final settlement agreement. If we can come to agreement, we will avoid the need for lengthy litigation and will be able to develop an agreement that provides the relief we are seeking. I want to emphasize that it not a “done deal,” we still have a lot of work over the next several days to address all of the issues raised by the complaint, but we are hopeful that this was a good sign and wanted to pass that along. We are also hopeful that by coming to an agreement with a settlement, it will resolve all of the issues quickly. While I would like to provide a firm timeline, at this point, we can’t do that other than to say we are going to be putting this on a fast track to the extent possible. The government also appears to be interested in resolving this quickly.

2/16/2021 🎉🎉🎉 CASE HAS BEEN FILED TO THE COURT!!!!!!
Note: you can still be added as reserved plaintiffs if you want to join the case; just fill out the Google form listed on the top of this page.

2/15/2021 Received Robert’s second version of Draft Complaint, sent back some minor corrections.

2/12/2021 According to Robert’s suggestion, three Named Plaintiffs of Stem OPT have been added. The information has been collected and sent to Robert, waiting for a reply.

2/10/2021 Get Draft Complaint from Robert，we have sent back our feedback.

2/09/2021 First batch of named plaintiffs have completed the payment today (02/09/2021).
The lawyer selected named plaintiffs. If you were not contacted by the lawyer directly, you are not named plaintiffs; instead, you and hundreds of students will be listed as reserved plaintiffs once you filled out the Google Form.
Checkout Lawsuit FAQ for more info regarding named/reserved plaintiffs.

2/09/2021 Robert’s email，summarized as follows:
Whether a student can stay in the US if he/she gets a rejection notice after their grace period, please see Lawsuit FAQ
Emailed a draft complaint for volunteer committee to review later today or tomorrow. (The complaint is the legal document that begins a lawsuit; it identifies all the plaintiffs and defendants and explains the facts and legal claims.)

Robert hopes to send out the payment link later today (02/09/2021).

Robert also said:
We have seen announcements with an excuse as to why the receipts have been delayed, and while we don’t think the excuses provided have been persuasive, it is clear that USCIS recognizes they have a problem.  Our concern is not only the delay in the receipts, but with the substantive problems that the delay has caused, many of which are identified in the discussion earlier in this string.  We hope and anticipate that this lawsuit will give us an opportunity to fashion remedies for students who have been impacted by the delay, not only the delay getting the receipt, but consequences of that the delay has caused, such as shortened periods of OPT and rejections for technical reasons coupled with the expiration of deadlines. 

1/30/2021 Phone calls with Robert, summarized as follows:
The case has not been filed yet, but Robert and his team is working on it and will let us know once their done and will send out payment link by then.

1/29/2021 Phone calls with Robert, summarized as follows:

  1. this is a special case with an usual fee arrangement so that is why it is taking some time because there are several internal level of approval to go through
  2. Currently Rob’s team is working on the complaints, which will be ready within the next day or 2.
  3. Case will be filed in Ohio
  4. The case will be filed within the next couple of days.

1/28/2021 Robert promised to take our case
1/28/2021 The first litigant (the first classmate to contact Robert) signs fee agreement
1/28/2021 Find a student who is willing to be a representative of Ohio (because the case needs to file to the federal court in Ohio), and we learned that 15 named plaintiffs are needed, and the remaining students will be litigated as reserved plaintiffs (about named plaintiff and For reserved plaintiffs, see Lawsuit FAQ
1/19/2021 first zoom meeting

Lawsuit Plan

Brad Banias

Lawsuit Process

1/28/2021
Students who want to participate in Brad’s class action please sign up on his webpage and sign the contract with him directly, the URL and password are as follows: www.wasdenbanias.com/optdelaysuitonboarding
The password: 2021opt

1/28/2021 sent us draft contract (Note: No need to sign, just show everyone a what draft contract looks like)
1/26/2021 Meeting with volunteer committee 1/22/2021 Brad hold a zoom meeting for anyone signed up on his website. (Not meeting with volunteer committee directly)

Lawsuit Plan

Find info on draft contract

[Ira Kurzban]

[Greg Siskind and Charles Kuck]

[Patrick K. O’Rourke]

[Ying Cao]

[Rafael Ureña]