L1B from current employer to H1B from new employer - best options available?

[arun27485]

Hi. I am currently working in USA for 3.5 years under L1B Visa from Company A. The L1B visa will take another 1.5 years to expire. I am expecting an offer from Company B who says he will process H1B for me. What are the best options available to Company B to process H1 for me? How sooner can I expect to work under new employer?

I see some threads mentioning that mention abt Change of Status (COS) or Consular Processing (CP). Are those something can be availed for faster processing of my H1B visa approved or will it still anyways take some 6 months (Oct 2013) to be eligible to work under Company B even my H1B got approved sooner?

Also during which status of my petition I can quit from Company A?

I am seeing no concrete answers on this situation and would require an expert's opinion on the same. If you have any other suggestions, then please let me the same.

Thanks,
Kumar

[raghvi]

Hi. I am currently working in USA for 3.5 years under L1B Visa from Company A. The L1B visa will take another 1.5 years to expire. I am expecting an offer from Company B who says he will process H1B for me. What are the best options available to Company B to process H1 for me? How sooner can I expect to work under new employer?

I see some threads mentioning that mention abt Change of Status (COS) or Consular Processing (CP). Are those something can be availed for faster processing of my H1B visa approved or will it still anyways take some 6 months (Oct 2013) to be eligible to work under Company B even my H1B got approved sooner?

Also during which status of my petition I can quit from Company A?

I am seeing no concrete answers on this situation and would require an expert's opinion on the same. If you have any other suggestions, then please let me the same.

Thanks,
Kumar

If its a fresh H1 it will be effective only from 01-Oct-2013 or later. There is no way to advance that.
If your L1B associated I-94 is expiring after 30-Sep-2013, you can potentially do a L1 to H1 COS thereby you would be on H1 from 01-Oct-2013, if H1 is approved. This way you need not leave US to go for H1 stamping. But if you do COS you should work only with the H1 employer after H1 start date. You can also do Consular processing H1 in which case the H1 will start only after you get H1 stamped and re enter US on the H1 till that happens you can work for L1 employer. Your L1 will get cancelled when you go for H1 stamping.

If your L1 associated I-94 is expiring before 30-Sep-2013, and in case you dont want to leave US, you will have to do a L1 extension filing and late do a L1 to H1 COS.
OR you can do H1 filing as consular processing and leave US before L1 B I-94 expiry, get H1 stamped abroad and return on H1 on or around H1 start date.


If your L1 to H1 COS is approved, then based on the H1 start date and the notice period required with current company you can resign .

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[arun27485]

If its a fresh H1 it will be effective only from 01-Oct-2013 or later. There is no way to advance that.
If your L1B associated I-94 is expiring after 30-Sep-2013, you can potentially do a L1 to H1 COS thereby you would be on H1 from 01-Oct-2013, if H1 is approved. This way you need not leave US to go for H1 stamping. But if you do COS you should work only with the H1 employer after H1 start date. You can also do Consular processing H1 in which case the H1 will start only after you get H1 stamped and re enter US on the H1 till that happens you can work for L1 employer. Your L1 will get cancelled when you go for H1 stamping.

If your L1 associated I-94 is expiring before 30-Sep-2013, and in case you dont want to leave US, you will have to do a L1 extension filing and late do a L1 to H1 COS.
OR you can do H1 filing as consular processing and leave US before L1 B I-94 expiry, get H1 stamped abroad and return on H1 on or around H1 start date.


If your L1 to H1 COS is approved, then based on the H1 start date and the notice period required with current company you can resign .

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thanks for the inputs Raghvi. Your answer looks very clear to me. As I would mostly opt for CP as I have some pending work in India for couple of months and would probably plan my resignation based on the H1 start date.

Kumar

[raghvi]

Thanks for the inputs Raghvi. Your answer looks very clear to me. As I would mostly opt for CP as I have some pending work in India for couple of months and would probably plan my resignation based on the H1 start date.

Kumar

In case you are planning to travel to India then CP makes sense. In case H1 is approved from 01-Oct-2013 , you can travel around that date back to US on H1 and once in US work for h1 employer. Make sure your H1 employer is genuine with genuine work not some body shopping company. Because if for some reason when you go for H1 stamping and your H1 processing gets denied or delayed due to Admin processing and your L1 also gets cancelled you wont be able to re enter US. I would advise you to resign from L1 employer only after getting H1 stamping approved.

This is my opinion not legal advice.