So.. if you're a PhD tourist from India, you gotta follow very strict bureocratic rules: 60 days grace period, adjustment of status and other nonsense. At the same time, if you entered the country thru the southern border, you may ignore the law and, in fact, uscis will help you with that.
What nonsense. PhD students also have the option of ignoring the law associated with their visa, that's not exclusive to people entering over a specific border or port of entry
It’s important to note that it’s highly discretionary and you have to make a case for it. It’s not clear if USCIS updated their guidelines on what counts as a compelling circumstance to give you an EAD. So far, they’ve only approved for very few cases.