H1B Extension and I797 expiry

USA H1B Visa
1

Hi ,

I am in my first H1B and staying in US from May 2013. I applied for an extension on September 2015 and got the petition approved for 1 year, which is basically I have I797 valid till September 2016. I don’t want to apply for another extension for now and travel back to India due to personal reasons. Now I have 2 questions.

  1. If I dont apply extension, my current I797 expires and is it possible to apply extension from India after say 1 year? Am I still be exempted by cap?

  2. If the answer for 1st question is positive, is it also be possible to transfer the visa/petition if I change the job in India , apply for extension and still be exempted by cap.

Please let me know, your help is much appreciated.

2

  1. You will be cap-exempted for 6 years. So until 2022 in your case.

  2. Yes, another employer can file the cap-exempt petition for you during the above timeframe.

3

Thanks for the quick response.