My company put as 9/28 as starting date on H1B instead of 10/1.

USA H1B Visa
1

I have following questions.

  1. I am working on L1B right now from company A. Company B applied for my H1B and it got picked in the lottery, hopefully it will get approved. Company B put the starting date as 9/28 instead of 10/1. Will it cause any issue?

  2. I am going to get married in the month of October or November. I am thinking of resigning from company A in September and come back in October/November with my wife. Do I need to start working for company B before I go back or I can just show offer letter in visa interview? Do I show salay stub to the visa consulate to prove that I am already working for company B?

Thanks

2

  1. I am same boat. My start date in LCA says start of september. Guess shouldn’t cause any issue.

  2. Offer letter with company B should be sufficient. However, have good knowledge about Company B before going for visa interview. Expect questions like how u know company B, what is there employee strength, are they legimite and all those.

3
  1. The LCA can be pre-dated for at most 6 months. Most likley the LCAs were approved on 3/28 and they would have requested the start date of 9/28.

This shouldn’t impact the outcome of the processing. If approved, it will have a start date of 10/1.

  1. It is ok to not work for B for a single day when you appear for your H-1 interview. You will have to carry all the required documentation when appearing for H-1 interview. If approved, you both can return to US on H-1 and H-4 visa stamps. If they need additional documents, they will issue 221g.
4

Hi Saurab,

I really appreciate your comment. My employer has changed the date to 9/30, which is good.
Please let me know what should I do in this case:

I am working on L1B now and my new company filed for H1B this year. Change of status get effective from 10/1. I will have to work for my current company until September 30th. I am planning to resign from my current company on around September 15th since I have 15 days’ notice period with them. My concern is that my company is not obligated to keep me for 15 days after I resign. What if they terminate me the day on I resign let’s say September 15th. What should we do in this case as I don’t want to stay out of status in the US?

Is it really ok to leave US before 10/1 and come back after 10/1 on H1b. I heard I can’t do that because I applied for change of status and my status would automatically change on 10/1 and I have to be in the US on 10/1. Please help me with this.

5

That’s a valid concern and L-1 employer can terminate you on the day of resignation itself. See if similar incidents happened in your company in the past.

If you have to leave US, you can go for H-1 stamping and return after 10/1. This holds true even if your H-1 was approved w/ COS.

6

Thanks Saurabh.

And I can’t stay out of status for some days? Let’s say I have to stay out of status for 3-4 days, can I do that?

7

3-4 days may be ok in the long run and probably falls into the gray area. Consult your H-1 attorney if you end up in such a state.

8

Hi Saurabh,
I will really appreciate your expert comments on below question.
I am on L1 and my company applied L1 – H1 COS for me including my wife L2-H4. I got a reciept for my wife for H-4 with reciept number but nothing for me. Even my employer/attorney has not replied anything about my H1. Do you know if my wife’s H4 reciept number is generated what about my H1B. Does it indicate anything about my H1 petition. I am not sure if attorney has filled my and wife’s both application together or not.
Thank for help.

9

If they do the right thing, then they should generate her receipt number only after you have made through the cap. However, there is a small possibility that USCIS did a mistake and issued her receipt number even before confirming your selection. Nothing can be said concretely, but one should be optimistic.