H1 > H4 > H1 Renewal while in the US

[sidbun]

This is about getting information about renewal of H1 B visa. The situation is as follows:
a) A person is currently in the US on a H4 visa.
b) He earlier had an H1-B which was valid for 1 yr but has now expired (a year back) but is eligible for renewable for a further 5 years.

Q1) If the person gets a job offer in the US, can he (company) immediately apply for the renewal of her H1-B while he is in the US?
Q2) Will his renewal be only processed from his origin country outside the US? Does he have to travel to his origin country till the time such application is processed?
Q3) What is the process for application, and should he have anything ready with him?
Q4) Would he be required to cancel his H4 visa before applying for renewal?

Regards,
Sid

[kabkaba]

This is about getting information about renewal of H1 B visa. The situation is as follows:
a) A person is currently in the US on a H4 visa.
b) He earlier had an H1-B which was valid for 1 yr but has now expired (a year back) but is eligible for renewable for a further 5 years. -- If the person has never been in the US in H1 or L1 status, the entire 6 years can be recaptured.

Q1) If the person gets a job offer in the US, can he (company) immediately apply for the renewal of her H1-B while he is in the US? -- Yes. But he can only start working after H1 is approved with change of status.
Q2) Will his renewal be only processed from his origin country outside the US? Does he have to travel to his origin country till the time such application is processed?
-- If he is in the US in H4 status, the petition can be filed with change of status.
Q3) What is the process for application, and should he have anything ready with him? -- A copy of previous H1 petition approval notice or receipt number
Q4) Would he be required to cancel his H4 visa before applying for renewal? -- No, the H1B petition will include change of status. Whenever he leaves the US, he will have to obtain H1B Visa in order to return in H1B status.

Regards,
Sid

See above.

[VenuGoapl]

H1B is approved,Can we change status from H4 to H1B .

Hi ,

Please help me on my query.

- h1b is apporved, not attended the interview
-My wife is US ON H1B ,So planning to go on H4 visa and Once I reach there , Can change the status to H4 to H1B
-What is the procedure for this.

please help me on this.

[kabkaba]

If with the same employer, the employer will have to amend their petition to include change of status.
If with new employer, they just file their petition with change of status. (Petition will be cap-exempt).

You can (and must) start working after change of status is approved.

[sidbun]

See above.

Thank you kabkaba.

One point i forgot to mentioned was that the person had stayed in the US for 8 months on his H1-B and returned to his country of origin during which time his visa expired. Currently he is on his 2nd visit to the country on H4 visa and was looking for options for conversion to h1-B. Would your answers still hold true in this scenario?

[kabkaba]

Makes no difference except that the total time allowed in H1 status in the US is 6 years.