When to apply for H1B Visa

Hi,

I work in US for past couple of years under H1 status. I am getting married in another 4 months and am looking for someone to process H1B visa for my fiancee who is currently working in India. By June she will be having H4 status and will travel to US.

My questions

Is it possible to apply H1B for her during this year ?Does she have to go back to India to get H1B stamped after October ?ThanksMurali

April 1 is the date when H1B VISA applications for the year will be put through the process (filtering, lot and so on). Considering that your fiancee would have H4 only by JUNE, it would be too late (not possible) for you to file H1B this year. So either

  1. Start filing H1B for your fiancee from INDIA right now ( 40 more days to go i.e, before April 1). If it goes through, she can be in US with H1B in next few months probably by October

  2. Else she may come with H4 in June as currently planned and apply for H1B the next year (2017). No need to go back to India to file H1B

Hope this is all you wanted to get clarified.

Thanks a lot @civabalan

But what happens if I apply H1 through some US consultancy in 40 days and the process will start . By June we will get married and she will have H4 . By October she might get the H1 applied through the US consultancy and she will be here . Can she then apply for change of status and start working ?!

It may go to RFE and then denial. One person experienced like your case last year, which was picked up in lottery, then RFE and finally denied. I am not 100% sure. So Better please check with the attorney of consultancy which you are planning to file for her this year in U.S… They will give you exact answer.
If you are filing in India, then there will not be any problem.

U can hold only one VISA at a time…Im not sure whether u can apply for H4 for june while u wud have already applied for H1…it can create problem during visa interview…because the first expectation out of H4 is that the candidate should not have any plans of working in US…its pure luck…but probability of success is less…Sorry for giving a negative reply…but u may still confirm with some consultancy…

  1. Her H-1 can be applied in April even when she is outside of US

  2. She will have two options:

  • amend the approved H-1 petition to file COS from H-4 to H-1. Once approved, she can start working on H-1

  • leave US, get H-1 visa stamped and return on it to work on H-1