H-1B loss of job & H-1B transfer

USA H1B Visa
1

Hello,

can I please have a question?

Fact: If I am on H-1B and lost a job I can immediately apply for an H-1B transfer.

Question: What about if I lost a job, but I don’t want to find a job immediately. I want to travel out of country, come back on visitor visa (B-2, or ESTA) and do a few job interviews. Then I want my new employer to apply for a new H-1B petition with cap-extempt (or possibly H-1B transfer).

Is it possible to apply for H-1B transfer (or new H-1B with cap-extempt) even with a 1-2 months gap from the last employment? Of course I would be maintaining a legal status these 1-2 months (being back in my country, or re-entering on tourist visa).

Thank you for reviewing and answering my question.

I appreciate!

2

You should not enter US on tourist visa to give job interviews and find new employment. That will be misuse of the B-1/2 visa.

If you have valid reasons to travel to US on B-1/2, and an employer files H-1 w/ COS for you, then that should be fine. There is nothing called H-1 transfer in USCIS law books. It is cap-exempt petition which we loosely refer as H-1 transfer.

You should have old approval notice and your payslips from the time you were inside US on H-1 status.