H1 to H4 conversion, due to original LCA issue

[h1b_ki_talash]

My wife's employer filed h1b for her in April 2014 with LCA from client A.

My wife got her h1b approved. She found another client (Say client B) during Sept timeframe and her employer amended LCA for client B and she started working from Oct 1st.

 

She got call from USCIS saying that Original LCA for client A was not correct. Client A does not exist. So, we are investigating it. We were not aware of this. She talked to her employer and he said, that client A does exist with EIN # etc and everything is fine. So, don't worry. 

 

What are our options? (we want to be safe)

 

a) Can we continue working for client B ? (Client B is good big company)

b) If this re-solves where they find my employer at fault, then Are they going to revoke my wife's h1b and will she be out of status since day one ? (Or she needs to re-act at that time and leave job/country or change the status?)

c) Is h1b transfer to new employer a good option? (What is original h1b gets revoked. will it also affect h1b transfer ?)

d) Should be convert to H4 visa to be on safer side ? (We are ok with that as we want to be safe)

e) Is there any issue with my H1b or GC process? (husband's H1b or GC) 

 

My wife has H4 visa stamp, so for H1-to-H4, should she go out of country and then come back for H4 status ? (Or applying I539 from here is good enough) She has one payslip.

 

Thanks for everybody's response.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[h1b_ki_talash]

Can somebody help? Please. We need to decide on this soon.

[JoeF]

The issue is not that client A doesn't exist, the issue is that the *job* with client A doesn't exist. Why else would there be a change to client B? That means the H1 was not approvable, and it is likely that the H1 would be revoked retroactively.

That would indeed mean that your wife would be out of status retroactively. And if that happens, a transfer would also not be possible.

Changing the client before the H1 kicks in is a big no-no, because then the H1 would have been applied for fraudulently.

Your wife should immediately change back to H4, and for next year' find a better employer, one who isn't a consulting company.

[rahul412]

 

She got call from USCIS saying that Original LCA for client A was not correct. Client A does not exist. So, we are investigating it. We were not aware of this. She talked to her employer and he said, that client A does exist with EIN # etc and everything is fine. So, don't worry. 

Are you sure about this? Did you do any research to see whether client A exists or not?

 

Best option will be, find a full time employer not a consulting firm. If USCIS finds out that something is wrong in the earlier petition then she might be in trouble.

[h1b_ki_talash]

The issue is not that client A doesn't exist, the issue is that the *job* with client A doesn't exist. Why else would there be a change to client B? That means the H1 was not approvable, and it is likely that the H1 would be revoked retroactively.

That would indeed mean that your wife would be out of status retroactively. And if that happens, a transfer would also not be possible.

Changing the client before the H1 kicks in is a big no-no, because then the H1 would have been applied for fraudulently.

Your wife should immediately change back to H4, and for next year' find a better employer, one who isn't a consulting company.

Thanks JoeF for your input.

When we asked USCIS officer that what are our options. Should we stop working? He was clear in saying that you continue working and try to get a new employer who can transfer h1b. So, with that information, I think new things should not get affected.

Also, LCA is employer responsibility and sometime it can changed. I talked to few friends who are working in Big companies (like Infosys, TCS) they had their client changed before H1b took effect.

I see that moving to H4 is safest option. What do you think is next best option?

 

Please advice.