美國轉大學... OPT... 休學

In answering your questions:

1. You can apply Leave of Absence at any time. However, universities will usually not granting admission to students who recently expereience Leave of Absence. Therefore, the best way for you to do (based on your ideas) is defer your graduation, leave for 1 year then come back to community college and finish the rest (including transfer application).

2. OPT is a one-time one-year work authorization. It is easy to apply. The catch is you must have a job within 3 months or OPT will be invalid. Companies are still willing to hire. The catch is how much they are paying you.

3. In theory you can come back, providing you are eligible for a visa again. However, your academic performance may be discredited when you have not come back for a while. For example, if you come back after 2 years, your academic result can't be considered as it is.

All GPA and credit are valid, but subject to each individual. Some school can reject your GPA and credit if they think they can't represent you anymore.

4. Yes. But they can choose not to recongize any credits as they want.

5. 30 days.

My suggestion to you is forget the OPT. It is not going to worth it.

USCIS, at their discretion, can in fact issue employment authorization to student visa holders based on financial difficulty. However, it is difficult to get. Since you are running out of options, I think you can try this. In this case, you will not need to take leaves and can work and study at the same time.

Remember, you have to demonstrate why you are in financial difficulty. Understand this, lack of money is not a difficulty. School recommendations are also important (your academic results).

那麼我要今年, 即現在2009年11月準備申請轉學的事, 然後當有大學收了我後才申請休學, 還是在2010年才申請 2011年入學?!

You can stop studying but you will notified USCIS for this change as you no longer study full time, they need to readjust your status.

You can comeback and enrol in 2011 semester if you still have your visa or apply a new one with your new I-20 (well, you are gonna get a new I-20 anyway), cos i don't know what visa you use and how long it remains valid. But usually if you apply a visa to finish CC, that visa will finish when you finished CC.

The important things is you have to notify USCIS or they will still think you are studying full time and you are not, then big problem...

還有, OPT 是否很難申請的?! 以現在美國的經濟情況, 還會有公司請 OPT 的學生嗎?!而且, 要有怎樣才有優勢, 被公司請的機會多一點呢?

You can apply OPT regardless, you don't need company sponsor for OPT. Company seldom hire OPT for 3 reasons.

1.) many Green Card Resident/ US Citizens to choose from
2.) OPT mean higher tax and no tax return possibility.
3.) hire OPT usually leads to H-1B visa that mean the company will need to come clean with IRS for sponsorship detail. Most company in US dodge tax you know....

If you are good, then aim at some Very Big Company (like Microsoft) where they don't care about all that mentioned before.

Otherwise, it is generally hard for oversea resident to start afresh in US.

如果我在社區學院畢業後, 不回港, 留在美國, 最多可以逗留多久?

I think you cannot stay after you graduate from CC, cos you are not qualifed to apply OPT. Cos OPT is for Degree holder uses....

Once you got your Degree, you can stay for at most 12 months for most degree holder, 28 months for selected degree holder such as computer science and acturial studies.

如果我不回美國繼續升學, 可否帶著credits 轉學去其他地方, 如澳洲, 加拿大, 日本?!

Canadian and Australia recgonise CC's associated degree as Higher Education qualification, you should be able to enrol in 2nd year in University if you are good (3.0-4.0 gpa) or year 1 entry if you got a pass on your CC.

2009-10-28 20:32:50 補充：
其實我是沒錢繼續讀大學, 如果我在社區學院畢業後, 回香港, 那麼我將來還可以回美國升讀剩餘的2年大學課程嗎?

You can, as long as your university still enrol you and you have your new I-20

2009-10-28 20:33:06 補充：
我的 gpa 還有效嗎?

GPA is for life (If you graduated from CC), it will still be acceptable if you absent form 1 year, hard to say if you are going to left for 5 or 6 years tho...

2009-10-28 20:33:14 補充：
我的 credit 可以 transfer 嗎?

Depend form school to school

還可再申請學生visa 嗎?

Long as you have a valid I-20, you can apply a student visa, so it is again, up to your school......