Hey @Abhishek , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

🎓 New for our community: 3 FREE immigration courses 🎓 Hey everyone! We've put together something special just for this community. Three self-paced video courses on the talent visas and green cards so many of you ask about, taught by Soundarya & Allison, and completely free for Open Atlas members. O-1A: You're Outstanding Too! → For folks exploring an alternative to the H-1B → 25 lessons, 2.5 hrs of video → openatlas.thinkific.com/courses/o1a EB-1A: You're Extraordinary Too! → For folks who want to self-sponsor a green card → 26 lessons, 3 hrs of video → openatlas.thinkific.com/courses/eb1a EB-2 NIW: Scoring a Waiver → For folks who want to self-sponsor a green card and skip PERM → 19 lessons, 2 hrs of video → openatlas.thinkific.com/courses/niw What you'll learn in each: what goes into the application packet, who should file and why, the evidence criteria broken down one by one, getting recommendation letters, picking the right lawyer, RFEs vs NOIDs vs denials, bringing your dependents, and life after approval. 🔒 These are a thank-you to our community, so please keep the links here rather than sharing them publicly. Drop a ✋ in the thread if you're starting one, and let us know which course you'd like us to host a live Q&A on next! Courses are educational and not legal advice. Please talk to an immigration attorney about your specific case. <!channel>

Hey @Vinayak Dethe , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

Hey @Ashish Pant , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

Hey @Shushil Kharel , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

Hey @kevinchan.app , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

Hey @Harshvardhan Sekar , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

📣 From the Open Atlas Community We’re happy to share an upcoming webinar hosted by our community member, @Samuel Gutierrez, and the CareerConnect team. 🇺🇸 Finding a Job in the U.S.: How CareerConnect Helps International Students Get Hired What does it actually take to find a job in the U.S. as an international student? Samuel and the CareerConnect team will be joined by student speakers to talk about the real experiences and challenges international students face during their U.S. job search. The session will cover: • Preparing for opportunities and the job search • Connecting with employers • Navigating the U.S. hiring process • Real experiences and lessons from international students • How CareerConnect supports students throughout their career journey There will also be an opportunity to ask questions and hear directly from students about their experiences. 📅 October 22, 2026 ⏰ 5:00 PM PT 💻 Online Webinar 🔗 Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/8917908711305/WN_VwH1ZbQQRdCe7aVVE89PJw If you’re an international student exploring career opportunities in the U.S., this is a great opportunity to learn from people who have been through the process. Thanks for sharing this with the Open Atlas community, Samuel! 🙌 <!channel>

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👋 Introduce Yourself Help us get to know you: → Name, location, and role → Your journey in one sentence → One area where you can help others → One thing you're looking for right now Then reply to at least one fellow member. Great connections start here. <!channel>

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Hey @saicharith vaitla , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

🚀 Tech EB-1A/O-1 Profile-Building Opportunities 💻 Tech ACM Multimedia: Rio de Janeiro, Nov 10–14 A top research conference covering multimedia, vision and language, and more. Email the conference committee chairs and ask to join the reviewer pool for the next cycle. Reviewing peers' work is strong evidence of judging others in your field. BackstageCon: Salt Lake City, Nov 9 A KubeCon co-located event focused on developer portals and platform engineering. This year's speaker call is closed, but it's a great room for meeting maintainers and program committee members. Watch for the 2027 call for proposals. 🤖 AI Agentics Day: MCP + Agents: Salt Lake City, Nov 9 A KubeCon co-located event on AI agents and the Model Context Protocol. Speaking slots for 2026 are filled, so go to build connections now and plan a talk for the 2027 call for proposals. CoSN AI District Leaders Action Summit: Knoxville, TN, Nov 5–6 A hands-on summit that helps K–12 school district leadership teams build their AI adoption roadmaps. If you work in AI and education, contact CoSN about speaking or sharing your expertise at upcoming summits.

📣 Webinar This Thursday: F-1 and OPT Survival Guide The rules around F-1 status and work authorization are shifting fast, and small mistakes can carry big consequences. This session breaks down what’s changing and what you need to do about it. We’re joined by Steven Brown, Partner at Reddy Neumann Brown PC, who has spent nearly a decade in business immigration law handling RFE responses, USCIS denial appeals, and federal litigation over delayed cases, including EAD delays. What we’ll cover: → Duration of Status Rule: what it means for maintaining F-1 status → August SEVP CPT Guidance: how CPT can affect your status → Proposed OPT Fee Changes: what’s been proposed and what to watch → OPT & STEM OPT Timelines: extensions and keeping your work authorization intact → Cap-Gap Timelines: how the transition from F-1/OPT to H-1B works → Planning Your Next Step: preparing for H-1B or other options Who should join: F-1 students, OPT and STEM OPT holders, recent grads heading into the H-1B lottery, and anyone helping international students navigate their options. 📅 Thursday, October 15 🕒 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET 📍 Zoom 💬 Got a question for Steven? Submit it when you register. Selected questions will be shared with him ahead of the session. 👉 Register here: luma.com/6hfnueat This session is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. <!channel>

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Hey @Siva Kiran Nandipati , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

🚀 Starting a Robotics & AI Research Collective — Looking for collaborators! I’m a robotics engineer working on autonomous systems, with a background in aerial robotics, simulation, multi-robot systems, and AI/ML applications in Robotics. I’m looking to get deeper into research and collaborate with others on interesting technical problems. 🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sanjuksha Some areas I’m particularly interested in include: • Multi Robot Systems • Communication aware / Networked Robots • Navigation, Motion & Task Planning • Robotic perception & computer vision • Aerial Robotics / UAVs • ML/DL for robotics & Robot learning • Physical AI, VLMs / VLAs & Agentic AI I’m especially interested in projects at the intersection of these areas, but I’m open to adjacent ideas where there’s a strong technical fit. The idea: form small groups around shared interests, meet bi-weekly, and work asynchronously between meetings. As projects evolve, we can explore different directions, from developing prototypes and conducting experiments to potentially turning promising results into research publications. You don’t need to be an established researcher — engineers, students, researchers, and people looking to learn a new area are all welcome. Interested? Fill out this short form, and I’ll reach out to explore potential research interests and collaboration opportunities. forms.gle/…

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Hey @Andrey Klenin (DigitalAdvisor) , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

Hey @abraham482 , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

🗽 *EB-5 Investors Summit: Speakers Announced! Thinking about EB-5 but not sure where to start? Join us for a free virtual summit built for people weighing the EB-5 path before they commit capital.* 📅 Sunday, October 18, 2026 ⏰ 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM PT | Virtual 🎤 *Meet the speakers → Nikin Tharan, FINRA Registered Representative & Founder, Open Atlas → Matthew Khalili, FINRA Registered Representative & Founder, New World Ventures → Ashima Duggal, Partner, Duggal Law → Phuong Le, Partner, KLDP → More speakers to be announced What we'll cover → A firsthand account of the EB-5 journey → EB-5 vs. EB-1A and other immigration options → Direct vs. Regional Center EB-5 → What the January 1 price increase means for investors → Project due diligence → Funding strategy for your investment* Every session ends with live Q&A, so bring your questions. 👉 Register free: https://luma.com/y6k24s97 For educational purposes only. Not legal, tax, or investment advice.

Hey @atharvabakde1108 , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

Hi there, <!channel> You're invited to join us tomorrow for the F-1 and OPT Survival Guide, a live session with Steven Brown, Partner at Reddy Neumann Brown PC. F-1 and OPT rules are shifting fast right now, and a small misstep can put your status or work authorization at risk. This session is built to give you clear, practical answers on what's changing and what it means for you. What we'll cover: → The Duration of Status rule and how it may affect maintaining F-1 status → The August SEVP CPT guidance and how CPT can impact your status → The proposed OPT fee changes and what to watch for → OPT and STEM OPT timelines for extensions and work authorization → Cap-gap timelines if you're transitioning from F-1/OPT to H-1B → Planning your next immigration step after graduation Steven has practiced business immigration law for nearly a decade, handling RFE responses, USCIS appeals, and federal litigation over delayed cases, including EAD delays. He's known for turning complex agency updates into guidance you can actually act on. This is especially for you if you're an F-1 student, on OPT or STEM OPT, a recent grad heading into the H-1B lottery, or waiting on an H-1B outcome. 📅 Tomorrow 🕒 10:00 AM PT on Zoom Got a question for Steven? Add it when you register. Selected attendee questions will be shared with him ahead of the session. Register here: https://luma.com/6hfnueat See you there, The Open Atlas Team This session is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice.

Hey @Kartik , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.

📢 Open Atlas Roundtable, Edition 01: New Topic When policy moves this fast, our community deserves answers just as quickly. 🧭 On October 8, the Department of Labor suspended PERM processing for eight major employers, including Microsoft, Adobe, and six IT services firms. New applications are not being accepted, pending cases are on hold, and no end date has been announced. So we’re dedicating our first in-person Roundtable to the conversation that matters most right now: PERM on Pause: What Affected Employees Can Do Next 📅 Wednesday, 21 October | 6:00 PM PT 📍 The Hub, Union City, CA 🎤 Expert speaker announcing shortly What we’ll cover → What the suspension does and doesn’t affect, including H-1B status and approved I-140s → What it means at each stage of your green card case → Changing employers: what restarts and what carries over → Paths that don’t require PERM, including EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, and O-1 → What to watch for in the weeks ahead Plus open Q&A and time to connect with others navigating the same uncertainty. Already registered? Your seat is confirmed, nothing to do. Not yet? Seats are limited, so RSVP here 👉 luma.com/OARountable1 Know someone at one of the affected companies? Tag them or share this post. 🙌 For general information and community discussion only; not legal advice.

📌 Missed the F-1 & OPT Survival Guide? Catch up here. Duration of status, the new CPT crackdown, a proposed $70,000 OPT fee, and a little-known 14-month rule that’s already causing OPT denials. A lot has changed for F-1 students this year, and on October 15, immigration attorney Steven Brown (Partner, Reddy Neumann Brown PC) walked us through all of it. If you couldn’t make it live, the full recap is now available: 👉 theopenatlas.org/F1OPT What you’ll learn: • Where the duration of status rule stands, and why the 60-day grace period still applies • How the August SEVP guidance is changing CPT approvals, and why many schools have paused CPT I-20s • What the proposed OPT fee means for you, and why there’s no fee in effect today • The OPT and STEM OPT filing deadlines USCIS won’t bend on, including a SEVIS date trap that leads to denials • Cap-gap, the 2027 H-1B lottery, and your Plan B if you’re not selected • Steven’s answers to questions from attendees on EAD delays, premium processing refunds, travel on OPT, and more ⏰ Two dates to watch: the CPT guidance lawsuit hearing is November 6, and comments on the OPT fee proposal close November 9. Steven urged everyone to submit a comment, and you can do it anonymously. If this affects you or someone you know, take 10 minutes to go through it, and share it with a friend on F-1 or OPT. 💙 This session is for general information only and isn’t legal advice. <!channel>

🚀 EB-1A / O-1 Profile-Building Opportunities: Latest Drop (Software Engineering) Building a strong extraordinary ability profile is all about documented evidence: judging the work of others, speaking at recognized venues, and getting your work published. Here are four fresh opportunities for our SWE folks 👇 1. IDEA 2026, Jio Institute: Call for Technical Program Committee → Apply to serve as a reviewer for the conference (great for the “judging the work of others” criterion) → Timeline: Dec 2026 → Details: jioinstitute.edu.in/idea-2026/callforTPC 2. BackstageCon (co-located with KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America) → Call for proposals to speak at a Linux Foundation event → Timeline: Nov 2026 → Event page: events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america/co-located-events/backstagecon#… → Submit here: events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america/co-located-events/cfp-colocated-events 3. STAREAST 2027 (TechWell): Speaker Call → Pitch a talk at one of the leading software testing and QA conferences → Timeline: Apr 2027 → Info: stareast.techwell.com/speak-stareast → Submit here: stareast.techwell.com/speaker-submission-form-stareast-2027 4. ENASE 2027: Call for Papers → Submit a research paper on evaluation of novel approaches to software engineering → Timeline: Apr 2027 → Details: enase.scitevents.org/CallforPapers.aspx 💡 Pro tip: Save your acceptance emails, reviewer invitations, and program listings. These become your evidence later. Applied to any of these, or know of an opportunity we should share? Drop it in the thread 🧵 <!channel>

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Hey @nks.22.1992 , welcome in 👋 Glad you made it. Welcome to #C0ARW5C1S91 👋 The chill space. No agenda, just good conversation and good people. Talk about whatever, connect, and get to know the humans behind the usernames.