Currently on H4. Planning to apply for H1 B 2016 , want to know whether will I be able to apply H1B Visa from India

USA H1B Visa
1

I am Currently on H4 visa. Planning to apply for H1 B 2016 via Private Consultancy in US. I would be travelling to India by Jan 2016 and will be back by June 2016 due to personal work and I am planning to submit all the needed documents to apply for H1 B to the consultancy before I leave US.

I want to know whether will I be able to apply H1B Visa from India. If it is possible, will there be any issues in my visa approval when I travel back to US?

Please advice.

Thanks in advance.

2

There should not be a problem even if you apply from outside US. If you get selected in lottery and your application is approved your start date would be 1st October 2016. When you come back in june 16 you would still be on h4 which will automatically change to H1 on Oct 1.

3

Thank you for the quick response!!

4

Hi,

I have one more query. My consultancy saying that once the H1 b petition is filed I should not go to India for vacation, if I go, consular processing will be needed and in some case application may get rejected. So they are asking me to stay here from April 1. What does consular processing means and how my vacation will affect my h1 b processing. Please explain.

5

There are two options:

  1. COS (change of status) - person files H-1 while inside US along w/ COS from H-4 to H-1. Once H-1 is approved, a new I-94 is issued (same number as old one) and person can start working on H-1 from Oct 1 w/o needing to get H-1 visa stamped.
  2. Consular processing: Person applies for H-1 from outside US, or files from inside US but then leaves US before it gets approved. In this case, no new I-94 is issued and person needs to appear for H-1 visa stamping and then enter US on that visa stamp to work on H-1.

#2 adds another round of processing (visa stamping), which may not be helpful to those who are filing through small consulting companies. That’s why companies tend to avoid it.

You want to travel in Jan 2016, which will be before H-1 is filed in April 2016. This is contradictory to your last post where you mention leaving US after H-1 has been filed. Which one is correct?