L1B - H1 Conversion

[kalyan_star]

Hi, My current L1B visa is expiring on 13SEP 2013 (5 Year completion). I94 Expiration date - 13 SEP 2015. I have another employer who filed a new H1B (COS) under 2012 cap on Jun 2012. The current status of that H1B is in RFE Response.

1. I know my L1B status is not valid from the H1B effective start date. but the L1B employment agreement states that I need to serve 15 days notice period. How to handle this overlapped period.

2. while I am still positively awaiting the results of the H1B rfe response, just to keep options, I have started discussing L1B - H1B conversion with the current employer. If this option works, what status I would be in between my last L1B (13 SEP 2013) and the typical H1B effective start date (01 OCT 2013).


Thanks in advance.

[raghvi]

Hi, My current L1B visa is expiring on 13SEP 2013 (5 Year completion). I94 Expiration date - 13 SEP 2015. I have another employer who filed a new H1B (COS) under 2012 cap on Jun 2012. The current status of that H1B is in RFE Response.

1. I know my L1B status is not valid from the H1B effective start date. but the L1B employment agreement states that I need to serve 15 days notice period. How to handle this overlapped period.

2. while I am still positively awaiting the results of the H1B rfe response, just to keep options, I have started discussing L1B - H1B conversion with the current employer. If this option works, what status I would be in between my last L1B (13 SEP 2013) and the typical H1B effective start date (01 OCT 2013).


Thanks in advance.

1. There is no clear cut way of handling this. As and when you get H1 approval, if you do, the H1 start date will be as per the petition filed which might already be in the past and you still working for L1 employer will make your status illegal. Only thing that can be done is to reduce this time period, you should resign the day you get the approval notice and try to adjust the notice period with the L1 employer offline. If it is not possible you will have to live with the out of status period during the notice time and hope it doesnt cause any problem in the future.

2. If you leave US no problem, but If you are in US during the time 13-Sep-2013 till 01-Oct-2013 you will be out of status. even though you have valid I-94, you can only hope that these 17 days period doesnt cause much problem when you go for visa stampings/gc processing in future. It all depends upon the officers who look at your cases in future and how lenient they are.

This is my opinion not legal advice.