Hey Rup,

What i know is that u need to complete atleast nine months of your degree course to get OPT/CPT. As far as i think they will refer you to the university and then you will be enrolled into some degree program, u pay for your studies. and when you get the OPT/CPT they will try to place you.

Their short term goal is to get $500 from you. 

you should call them up and ask in detail about this.

Moreover, if you do want to study then also u need no reference from Grapnel, find a course and enroll yourself, admission counseller will explain you how to go forward with it.

Also, Grapnel cannot help you in anyway to get F1 visa.

I contacted them last year, and they were like we will place you 100% and all...i said, if its 100% then why not sponsor H1B first then proceed with whatever training you say?

In  the end they said, they could not sponsor H1B this year(2009), bcoz of new rules ..blah blah...

I request people who did take training from Grapnel to post their experience :)

i think their strategy rt now is to earn a lot of $$$$ through trainings....This shady university in CA doesnt even seem to have a good campus....and its a online program and its illegal to grant CPT before the first year of fulltime enrollment...

rest is for yo'all to decide!!!

"Its illegal to grant CPT before the first year of fulltime enrollment" - (Unless rules have changed recetly) this piece of information is absolutely incorrect. CPT has nothing to do with USCIS or any other governmental bodies that handles employment authorization. CPT rules varies greatly with universities.

The main point here we are missing is that - 'that shady university in CA' was opened by some indians and chinese, primarly focusing for those students who alreday have masters degree and needed some extra time or way of finding jobs whiling just maitiang F1-status. If you are excepting a degree from that college and applying for a job with that degree, then its ur mistake that you got into something without knowing anything.

 STUPIDA

"Its illegal to grant CPT before the first year of fulltime enrollment" was told to me by a DSO from a certain University when i tried to solicit her to give me CPT in the first Semester....May be its not a general rule and may be specific rule applicable to that Uni...not sure...

but i agree with that second statement!!!

hope your trip to nepal was fun!!!

Let's make couple of things clear here.

1. Things are different now than it used to be year and half ago. At that time, You could easily find consultancies ( in hundreds) who would give you free training, place to live and give some money weekly for food and other expenses and even file H1-B at their cost whether you were from any background. This is why we see tougher rules now a days regarding H1-B.

2. At present condition, there is hardly any consultancies that won't charge you for a training, many of them are even changing their way of doing business into this filed. Most of them are focusing on things that doen't involve hiring and filing H1-B.

3. Now a days, even if u are from a related field, with solid background, they won't file ur H1-B unless and until you have project on hand. Things are worst upto a level where consultancies are not willing to file H1-b if u pay all teh cost too.

4.The best option I see or ( lets say my opinion or even what i Did couple years of back). I paid for my training ($700). I did my marketing by myself. I landed a job after a month. Then I went to consultantcy of my choice and did bargain on pay and even pressured them to file my H1-b @ their own cost.

5. One thing needs to be very clear now a days. Unless and until u have a project and related field, it is very hard to make consultancies file ur H1-B. I know it's hard, but its the truth.

Rup,

I cannot give all the info here. Besides it's all about how smothly u lie when u talk with the vendor.

Send me message with contact information, then I might be able to give u some tips on it or say what I did.