H1 approved;can I cahnge employer now?

Hi,

I am currently on F1 in the US doing my Masters. My H1B is approved through a consultant. Is it possible to change the employer now before going for stamping? If so what are the pro’s and con’s? Please help.

Thanks,

TechGuy

Hi Techguy,

Assuming your H1-b petition will come into effect from Oct 1, 2014; I’ll suggest that you stay with your current employer atleast till Oct 1, 2014. Once your H1-b is active, then you can switch jobs easily and any new employer would be able to transfer your h1-b.

Hope this helps.

Hi Prasenjit1986, I have a similar question (which I posted on main board as well). I am on F2 (husband on OPT), I have an approved I29 H1B petition (just received notification), which I applied through a consultant A.
I have offer from another employer B, and I want to join them (without joining A). Should I just wait till Oct 01 to ensure H1B kicks in, and then ask new employer to file a new cap-exempt petition on my behalf? I can get stamping done in India, don’t need to do transfer if transfer involves initiating work with A.
This is my first H1B.

Firstly, Congrats on getting your I-129 approved!

Since there’s only 13 calendar days left in Oct 1, 2014 I would suggest if you can stay with your current employer till Oct 1, 2014 and then ask the new employer B to transfer your H1.

This way - your H1 kicks in and the new employer B will have to do transfer, and transfers are generally easier to go through.

As for getting the stamping done, in either case (staying with employer A or employer B) you don’t need to stamp unless you want to travel from the US to another country and then re-enter the US.

Let me know if this helps.