Judge's ruling allows international STEM graduates to stay in US longer

Mario Chartosias, a research and teaching assistant at Cal State Long Beach’s College of Engineering, thought he might have to pack his bags and retu to his Mediterranean homeland once his job contract ended with the university.

Instead, thanks to a federal judge’s ruling, Chartosias – and thousands of inteational graduates like him – can stay in the United States and continue working an extra two years.

“It makes my life a lot easier,” Chartosias said. “It will allow me to get more experience in my field. The outcome is better than what I was expecting. I’m pretty psyched about it.”

Chartosias, 28, was prepared earlier this year to apply for a 17-month extension to his student visa that allows inteational graduates who majored in science, technology, engineering or math to stay in the United States and work in jobs or paid inteships up to 12 months post-study without a work visa.

In January, however, a federal judge suspended the STEM extension program, which is run by the Department of Homeland Security, while it was being challenged in court.

Earlier this month, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle dismissed the case, allowing the program to continue.

The Department of Homeland Security also revamped the program and increased the 17-month extension to 24 months.

If the program had been eliminated, about 1,700 CSULB students, including Chartosias, and an estimated 465,000 students nationwide could have been asked to leave the country.

Terrence Graham, associate dean and executive director of inteational programs at CSULB, said the ruling benefits students, universities and businesses.

“It’s attractive for inteational students to come here and get their degree, have a real opportunity to get three years of work experience in their field and then a job to help pay off student loans,” Graham said.

Universities are attracting STEM students, and those students be helping the economy by working with a U.S. company instead of moving back home, he said.

“It sends the message that we are open to students coming to the U.S. to study and help our economy, despite the political rhetoric we sometimes hear,” Graham said.

The lawsuit challenging the STEM extension was filed by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, which sued the Department of Homeland Security. The group claimed that the 17-month extension, which was implemented in 2008, was issued without proper public notice or comment.

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Huvelle ruled last year that the extension was invalid, put the program on hold and gave the govement six months to gather public comment.

The Department of Homeland Security said in December it would not make the February deadline, and received an additional 90-days to complete the process.

In February, the Department of Homeland Security filed a motion with court saying it had followed proper public comment process and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.