Am I eligible for H1B transfer (cap exempt)? Worked on H1B for 3 years, but petition was revoked later.

USA H1B Visa
1

I am looking for an advice on renewal/transfer of my old H1B to new employer, my case details are below- My Employer ‘A’ filed new H1B application- Petition approved - in June 2008- VISA Stamped - in Nov 2008- Stamped VISA was valid till - June 2011- Travelled to USA in March 2009, first time.- I was still in USA when my VISA was about to expire and I was working with same employer ‘A’.- My employer filed an extension/renewal.- Got approval to extension request and received new I-797.- Renewed petition was valid from June 2011 to June 2013.- I continue to work on extended petition without Stamping.- I returned to India in Feb 2012.- Never travelled back to USA during the validity of my extended petition, so I did not go for stamping again.- I left employer ‘A’ in May 2013 and joined Employer ‘B’ in June 2013.- Though my petition got expired in June 2013, my ex-employer ‘A’ has filed Revocation request in Aug 2013.- USCIS revoked my petition on Employer’s ‘A’ request in Oct 2013.- I travelled to USA once in Aug 2015 and stayed there till end of Sep 2015 on B1 VISA.- Now my employer ‘B’ wants to transfer/renew my old H1B as I can reuse remaining 3 years available with my old H1B.

1 - I would like to know if Employer ‘B’ can apply for renewal/transfer of my old H1B under out of cap??If not, why?2 - Will there be any hurdles due to revoked petition.

3- Till what time my H1B status will be valid for Cap-exempt process? I left USA on H1b in Feb 2012.Thanks,Vinit

2

  1. Yes, they can file cap-exempt petition using the old petition as reference

  2. No

  3. Usually it is 6 years but USCIS seems to be going easy on this requirement

3

Thanks Saurabh, for your valuable response!!

4

This is in response to your post on my wall. I am not an attorney and you should go w/ your attorney advice as they are the subject matter experts and are on the hook for petition approvals. You can take another opinion from another attorney about this, if your employer wants to.

5

No problem Saurabh, we are in discussion with a new attorney now. I will post the updates later.