From when does the actual H1B status starts ?

[akhil_agarwal1]

Hi,

I had a H1B approved petetion thru my ex employer 'A' (during the year 2009-10 which i guess is valid till 2012). I didn't use the petetion to travel to US till date. Also, my petetion was canceled by my ex employer later (when i moved on to other organization).

So under these circumstances, if I my new employer files a new petetion (with refernence to my old petetion and seeks cap exemption) then for how long will i be able to utilize my new H1B petetion ? i.e. my previous petition was approved in 2009-10 and now my new employer files for a cap exempted petition in 2012-13 then will i be counted under H1B status from 2009 or from 2012 ?
As per my understanding the max cap on H1B status is 6 years. SO just wanted to check if my H1B status starts from 2009, or 2012 or from the day i enter US ?

[kabkaba]

Your employer can file their petition at any time with immediate start date because of your cap-exemption.
Only the time that you actually spend in the US in H1 or L1 status counts towards the 6 year limit. Any remaining time can be captured by filing further petitions.