Friends will it help if I get F1 and then apply for H1B than directly applying for H1. Does F1 has a different category in lottery. Please advise if I can stay in US on B2 once I apply for H1 and till it is approved.
If you have done Masters from an accredited school, then you will be eligible to apply under Advanced Degree Cap. There are 20K petitions set aside for such applicants. In case there are more than 20K applicants, they would randomly select 20K and remaining ones would be added to the general pool of 65K. In other words, you get two shots at lottery.
If you are inside US on B-2 and apply for H-1 w/ COS (change of status), then you can wait for at most 240 days based on pending COS application. If COS is denied, or you don’t make through the lottery then you have to leave US immediately or can stay until I-94 expiration date (whichever is later).
Thanks for the response. is there any predefined duration within which the application status could be known or it depends on case to case.
If applied in premium processing, then result will be known within 15 calendar days (costs $1225 more).
If applied in regular processing, then it can take several months to know the result. There are folks who applied in April 2015 and still waiting for petition approval (though they all knew by Aug-Oct whether they made through the lottery or not).