Hi, I am working for company A, from OCT 2013 on L1B visa. Company B sponsored H1 with COS this year and petition was picked in lottery and application received in April 21st. company-A applied L1 extension on July 10th in premium processing and petition was approved in July 21st. On September 22 my H1 petition was approved. Now I am in confusion which one was valid. I don’t want to change from L1 to H1. Can I continue to work with company-A as my petition recently approved or I need to go to India for stamping to avoid status change.
Your H-1 would become effective from Oct 1 if the same was approved with COS. This is b/c H-1 COS effective date is Oct 1 and L-1 extension effective date was July 21.
If you want to continue working on L-1, then you need to travel outside of US prior to Oct 1, get L-1 visa stamped (as it may have expired) and then return on L-1 after Oct 1. If not, you need to work for H-1 employer from Oct 1.