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Hi,
My employment with my H1B sponsor will be terminated on Aug 5 and I probably need more time to land another job that sponsors H1B. I am currently 15 months away from my 6 year H1B expiration. I have 2 main goals:
1) Maintain legal status as long as possible here to find a job.
2) Use the time to learn something that will help me land a job.
Here are the 2 options I thought of:
1) COS to F1 but questions below:
a) Currently colleges are open for fall semester enrollment and classes won't start until mid to end of August. Considering my H1B termination date, can I still file COS within the US or need to leave the US and apply for a new F1 visa?
b) If I can stay in the US and file for COS, when do I need to file for COS?
c) Is it more risky to do COS than applying for a new F1 due to the dual intent of H1B?
2) COS to B2: I heard from attorney's that it will take 4-5 months to know the decision of B2 approval or denial, so I can use this time to join a 3 month programming boot camps. Since programmers are in high demand here, maybe it's easier to land an H1B sponsoring job. Questions:
a) Is it risky to get a B2 denial? If it's denied, is the period I stay waiting for B2 decision illegal?
b) Is it risky to change back to H1B from B2? Obviously I don't need to go into lottery but just wondering there is 'intent' issue from USCIS.
c) Is it feasible if I apply for F1 when B2 is pending?
Thank you very much in advance for your feedback!
My employment with my H1B sponsor will be terminated on Aug 5 and I probably need more time to land another job that sponsors H1B. I am currently 15 months away from my 6 year H1B expiration. I have 2 main goals:
1) Maintain legal status as long as possible here to find a job.
2) Use the time to learn something that will help me land a job.
Here are the 2 options I thought of:
1) COS to F1 but questions below:
a) Currently colleges are open for fall semester enrollment and classes won't start until mid to end of August. Considering my H1B termination date, can I still file COS within the US or need to leave the US and apply for a new F1 visa?
b) If I can stay in the US and file for COS, when do I need to file for COS?
c) Is it more risky to do COS than applying for a new F1 due to the dual intent of H1B?
2) COS to B2: I heard from attorney's that it will take 4-5 months to know the decision of B2 approval or denial, so I can use this time to join a 3 month programming boot camps. Since programmers are in high demand here, maybe it's easier to land an H1B sponsoring job. Questions:
a) Is it risky to get a B2 denial? If it's denied, is the period I stay waiting for B2 decision illegal?
b) Is it risky to change back to H1B from B2? Obviously I don't need to go into lottery but just wondering there is 'intent' issue from USCIS.
c) Is it feasible if I apply for F1 when B2 is pending?
Thank you very much in advance for your feedback!
