Whch date considered 4 "Last Action Rule":h1 aproval date or effctive date

USA H1B Visa
1

Hi,

I am currently on h4 visa which is valid till sept 14th, 2014. I am also going to file for my h1b visa through a employer on april 1st, 2014. As far as i understand, the h1b visa will be effective from 1st oct only even if it gets approved at an earlier date. So, should i file for my h4 extension so that i can stay in US from 14th sept to 1st oct on h4? Is there any possibility that my h1 visa status will get nullified if h4b extension is approved after the h1b approval date?

I understand about the “lats action rule” but am confused as to what date will be considered for h1b visa: appoval date, which can be any time from april 1st to september or h1b visa effective date which will b oct 1st.

Also, will h1b filing in premium processing help me in this situation in any way? I dont think so because even if the h1 is approved, i need h4 extension for my stay between 14th sept to oct 1st.

Please help me out with these doubts.

Thanks.

2

Yes, you should apply for H-4 extension.

If H-4 is approved after H-1 approval, then your status will change back to H-4 and you need to stop working. You can withdraw H-4 application once H-1 is approved w/ COS and it is past Oct 1.

For Last Action Rule, effective date is considered. In this case it will be Oct 1 or later (if H-1 is approved after Oct 1).

PP doesn’t help in this situation. What may help is H-4 extension in PP, so that you know the result before Oct 1 and have no impact on your H-1 status after Oct 1. This will require H-1 extension to be filed in PP as well. They both can be applied together as that’s what most employers do (I think they need to pay for only 1 PP fees for both if applied together).