SENT OPT APPLICATION TO THE WRONG ADDRESS, WHAT TO DO?

         Question:

Can I apply for COS from F1 to H4 now?

I graduated on December 18th 2020 and applied for my initial Opt in October 22nd 2020. My application was sent to the Texas Service Center and after waiting for 45 days and no receipt, I was informed that the address used was wrong and hence reapplied on December 7th 2020. On the same day, I got the receipt for the 1st app. Now USCIS is says to wait for the receipt of 2nd as well and send a withdrawal application. But my school is saying the best option is to submit for data fix but there’s no guarantee of approval. Do you think data fix will work since my 1st application is 102 days old now and 2nd being 52 days with no receipt? Also, my 60 days grace period ends on February 15, 2021 so if I want to apply for COS to an H4 is that possible now?

Answer: 

The data fix will not be a good option to rely on. If the second application was done properly- then it’s better to withdraw the first case and rely on the second one but please do withdraw it quickly before the USCIS denies the second one for being a duplicate.  With any errors with USCIS, there is unfortunately not a way out.

You could apply for a change of status within 60 days.