H1-B application while in India on H4?

My wife is currently in India, planning to return to the US on May 1st, 2016. Her current visa status is H4.

A consultancy is applying her H1-B visa under 2017 H1 CAP. Is it required for her to travel back to the US before the H1-B application is filed to start working on Oct 1 without H1 stamping? What are her options?

Not very sure about the change of status process and the requirements. Appreciate any information on the same.

If she is present inside US before April 1, then her petition can be filed w/ COS (change of status). This way, she will be on H-1 automatically from Oct 1 or actual approval date (whichever is later) and doesn’t need immediate stamping.

If she is not present inside US before April 1, then her petition will be filed w/ consular processing. She cannot start working on H-1 until she gets H-1 visa stamped or file a separate COS petition.