United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is making changes to the OPT and STEM application process. Effective Oct. 2, 2020, USCIS is implementing a new edition of the Form I-765 and increasing the application fee. USCIS will use the postmark date of your application to determine the fee and form required. The postmark is the date that the U.S. Post Office receives your mailing, or the date on your receipt if you use UPS, FedEx or DHL.   In the past, applications have been mistakenly rejected by USCIS when the correct form edition had been used, causing a significant delay in the application processing time. If you receive your OPT I-20 prior to Oct. 2 and cannot mail it before Oct. 2, we highly recommend that you request a replacement I-20 to send after Oct. 12, 2020. These requests will be processed on Oct. 13, 2020. This should prevent your application from being rejected in error.  If mailing your application to USCIS before Oct. 2, 2020, you must use the Aug. 25, 2020 edition of Form I-765 and include a $410 payment. If mailing your application on or after Oct. 2, 2020 you must use the Oct. 2, 2020 edition of Form I-765 and include a payment of $550. Using the incorrect form or submitting the wrong payment will result in a rejection or denial of your application. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us at issc.employment@asu.edu or use the new live chat feature on all pages of the ISSC website, Monday through Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. (Arizona time). You can also make an appointment with an ISSC staff member. We understand this might be a stressful time, and want to ensure you are able to reach us when you need to.