A-8088680
Decided by Regional Commissioner March 10, 1958 Approved by Assistant Commissioner
Student — Permission to accept employment for practical training — Granted to graduate chemical engineer while completing additional studies.
Permission to accept employment for practical training as instructor and research assistant will be granted to graduate chemical engineer while completing academic studies for another degree with the intention of pursuing career in teaching and research.
BEFORE THE REGIONAL COMMISSIONER
Discussion: The applicant in this case is a male alien, a native of Burma and a national of Pakistan, born November 24, 1932, who arrived on September 2, 1951, and was admitted as a nonimmigrant student. Since then the alien has studied at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California; at the San Francisco State College, San Francisco, California; at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin; and at the Philadelphia Textile Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering, and he is now studying at the Philadelphia Textile Institute, which institution was approved on February 8, 1952, as a school for nonimmigrant students pursuant to section 101 (a) (15) (F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The alien has submitted an application on Form I-24, application by alien student for permission to accept employment, to the Philadelphia Office, which application has been certified to this office under 8 CFR 7.1 (b).
A review of the record in the case shows that since his original entry on September 2, 1951, the alien has been in the United States continuously except for short and temporary absences, his last reentry having been at New York, New York, on June 16, 1957, at which time he was admitted to June 15, 1958, as a nonimmigrant student, destined to the Philadelphia Textile Institute. The alien thereafter submitted to the Philadelphia office an application on Form I-24, dated September 23, 1957, for permission to accept part-time employment with the Philadelphia Textile Institute for practical training. This application was accompanied by a letter of the same date from Mr. Donald B. Partridge, Dean of Students, Philadelphia Textile Institute, in which he stated that the subject has an unusual background, that he is a graduate chemical engineer, that he has taken most of the specified courses offered by the institute in textile chemistry and dyeing, that he is completing his studies for a B.S. degree in chemistry and dyeing, that he intends to follow a career in teaching and research, that the institute desires to employ him for practical training purposes as a research assistant and instructor while he is completing his academic courses at the institute, and that such employment and practical training will be extremely advantageous to the institute and will provide invaluable training to the alien. This employment for practical training was recommended for a period of 6 months. On the basis of these representations the Philadelphia office granted the application for permission to accept employment for practical training to March 25, 1958.
The present application on Form I-24, which has been certified to this office, is dated February 25, 1958, and is supported by another letter, dated February 24, 1958, from Mr. Donald B. Partridge, Dean of Students, Philadelphia Textile Institute, who states that the alien is teaching courses in inorganic chemistry and physical chemistry and is also assisting in the research department of the institute. The Form I-24 contains no provision for stating the period of practical training that is desired and none is stated in this application nor the accompanying letter from the institute although Mr. Partridge, the dean of students, certifies in the space provided for that purpose on the back of the form that "the proposed employment is recommended for practical training by the school and cannot be accomplished in a shorter period of time than that requested."
It is provided in Title 8, section 214f.7, Code of Federal Regulations, that:
* * * An application for practical training, which may be authorized within the limitations specified on Form I-20, shall be made on Form I-24 and shall be endorsed by the institution of learning or place of study which requires or recommends such practical training.
Form I-20 certificate of acceptance, provides on the back thereof, in item 5f:
Whenever employment for practical training is required or recommended by the institution or place of study attended by the applicant, the district director or the officer in charge may permit employment of the alien for a six-month period subject to extension for not over two additional six-month periods, but any such extensions shall be granted only upon certification by the school and the training agency that the practical training cannot be completed in a shorter period of time.
In this case "the school and the training agency" are one and the same, that is, the Philadelphia Textile Institute. An application for continuance of practical training has been submitted in accordance with the requirements of the regulations quoted above. No concurrent application for extension of temporary stay is required since the alien was, when he was readmitted into the United States on June 16, 1957, admitted to June 15, 1958.
In approving an application for employment for practical training, the maximum length of the period authorized is governed by 8 CFR 214f.7, but such length of authorized practical training should be reasonably proportionate to the period of formal study in the subject which has been completed by the student. In unusual circumstances, practical training may be authorized before the beginning of or during a period of formal study. The circumstances in this case are somewhat unusual and the student has been receiving practical training during the period of his formal study.
The applicant is, as previously indicated, a graduate chemical engineer who is completing his studies for another degree with the intention of pursuing a career in teaching and research. It appears that he is making clear progress toward both educational objectives, academic and pedagogical, and that the approval of his present application for continuance of practical training in teaching and research will promote these objectives. The application to continue part-time employment for practical training, concurrent with completing his studies toward another degree, will, therefore, be granted to the date of expiration of the period for which admitted into the United States.
Order: It is ordered that the application for permission to accept employment for practical training be granted to June 15, 1958.