Working in US on the basis of H1B petition

Hi

Currently I am in US on H4 visa and got my H1B petition approved by Indian employer. Can i work from US on the basis of approved petition since I am already in US, as visa is meant only to get entry in the country. Please suggest.

Thanks in advance for your help.

PS : My petition has been filed from my company before I come to US on H4.

Hi Riya,

Though your visa is approved, you are not legally allowed to work here in US until 1st Oct. All fresh H1s can start working in US only from 1st Oct. However, you are allowed to enter US if you are in a different country 10 days before the 1st Oct.

If your company is also present in India and still if you are employee of that company, you can work from here (only from home), but should get paid only in India rupees and in India. There is no harm in doing that.

Ram

Hi Ram

Thanks for the answer. In case i would like to work with US employer then can they transfer my petition so that i can get my visa stamped in US? Do they have to transfer my petition before Oct.1.2012?

Thanks again in advance.

If you want to work for US employer then you will have to transfer your petition. However, it is possible to transfer the petition only if you have atleast 2 pay stubs from your original H1 employer.

Ram

Thanks a lot Ram for answering all the queries.

My major concern is since i m in US, I don’t want to get back to India just for my visa stamping. Is there any way to avoid this? I am ready to work for Indian/US employer.

You don’t need to go to India for Visa stamping if you are in US. You can apply for COS on the approved petition from H4 to H1.

Ram

Can you please help me in understanding the procedure of how to apply COS on the approved petition? Also, what would be the fees and till when can this be done?

Talk to your attorney, for the people in US they will apply something called amendment to the petition. I am not an expert in this area. Apologize for inconvenience.

Thanks much Ram for providing me with the useful information.