Change of Status from OPT to B2

USA F1, F2 Visas - CPT - OPT
1

My husband’s OPT is expiring on the 15th of August 2020. Due to COVID-19 we cannot leave the country so we are thinking of changing our status to B2 (our grace period is till the 15th October).I have some questions:

  1. Our kids are on Medicaid but are not applying for status change since they are Americans. Do we need to report about their Medicaid under “Public Benefits”?
  2. What date can I put under “New Status and effective date of change”?(Part2. 3.b)Can I put any dates after the 15th of August? or the 15th of October?
  3. I believe I can request extension for 6 months. Am I right?
    Thank you very much.
2
  1. You may not need to report your kids medicaid as they are not tied to you as individual. But, check on the form, if they ask to report for family.
  2. You would put it as 14th of August to be safe. Grace period is not really legal status.
  3. You may, it depends… B2 is given only for extreme cases, so you need to put in that info in there and request.