DontWorryBeHappy

Send a mail to abczyx000@gmail.com. I will mail you my contact number..

@kkvt Go ahead with O1 visa. There is a no definite time limit for this process and there are no ways of expediting. One of my friend is waiting for more than a year and till now USCIS didn't even receive his case.

I am not sure how they contacted. I came to know from my vendor about the verification when I contacted them after my passport is returned back to me. Actually Client had the position. Unfortunately it wasn't in my managers team, it was in another manager's team. Since I worked with the other manager for couple of months he sent a email confirmation saying he would be interested if I come back with a valid visa. I took the same to interview but Consulate wanted to cross check with Client. Consulate asked for the contact number which was not mentioned in email confirmation. In that moment I gave a previous client letter which had client contracts department managers contact number as I didn't took a note of my manager's contact number. The verification call/mail went to that contracts dept guy and he said he is not interested. The reason I came to know from my vendor is that the contracts manager isn't interested in me as earlier I tried changing to a different prime vendor when my initial visa stamping got denied.

Nope. In verification, Client told Consulate that the position is no longer open and my Passport is returned with no Visa.

In your current H1 you are entitled to get H1 extensions till Dec 2015 (Oct 2014 + You can reclaim 14 months that you spent outside US). You are entitled to get fresh 6 years, if you stay outside US for 1 year and some employer files a brand new petition which is counted against cap like your first H1 applied back in Apr 2008. To get extensions based on GC filing, Your employer needs to file PERM/Labor at least 365 days before your H1B 6 years limit completes i.e., in your case it may be Dec 2014 or some other future date if you take vacation in between. If your PERM is approved you will get 1 year extensions. If your I-140 is approved you will get up to 3 year extensions until you apply for I-485.

You don't need stamp on the new passport.

If your H1 is applied with COS checked(Change of Status from L1-H1) then you must start working with H1 employer from the start date that is mentioned in the H1B approval notice(i.e., I-797) usually that date will be Oct 1st. Just check your I-797, if COS is checked it will have new I-94 attached to it. If I-94 is not attached then you may need to explicitly apply for COS if you want to work with your H1 employer.

You will get the remainder of total 6 years i.e.,1 year if you use the existing cap-counted H1B. In this case, to stay beyond 6 years, your new H1B employer needs to file GC for you and must get at least PERM approved to file for further extensions. You will get fresh 6 years if some employer files a cap-counted H1 in the FY2014 which starts accepting applications from Apr 1 2013 and which allows you to work no earlier than Oct 1 2013. To eligible for this you need to make sure you are out of US for at least 1 year.

@Petes You are a bit lucky to escape I guess. 1.5 years back I emailed Germany Embassy and they clearly mentioned that I need to get a transit visa and their website says the same as well. Since I was near to Washington DC at that time, I went there and got it done. Actually I booked a flight via Canada(Toronto) and Germany(Frankfurt) as I got it for very cheap(It was non-refundable) with out knowing about these transit visas. Later on I came to know that I needed to get transit visas for both Canada and Germany to travel and got them done. Costs in getting transit visas compensated for the cheap fare though. In the end, I needed to cancel the trip in the last minute because of massive 221(g)s issued in Jan 2011 which happened a week before my travel. It was a expensive and trouble some experience though.

What are you doing now? You are already out of status. You should consult an attorney to guide you. I think the right thing you need to do now is to exit country, get H1 stamped and come back using H1B visa.

If you have Masters in US and/or If you have most of your recent work experience in US then you can go to Canada for visa stamping. Choice of consulate, I would suggest you to choose the nearest one to you. I heard Vancouver is best these days but you need to be very proactive in getting an appointment there.

H1B visa cannot be cancelled by an employer, if they do that I think they will face severe consequences by US authorities. Only US consulate or Port of Entry authorities can cancel the visa as they are the entities who approved it. Employer can only put a request to USCIS to revoke the H1B petition if she quits job there. She can even reuse the H1B visa until it's expiry if a different employer sponsors her H1. That H1B petition will be cap-exempt as she already cap-counted in the past. She is entitled for a total of 6 years in H1B status in US that includes all her previous and current employers. Coming to H4 visa, it is completely unrelated to her previous H1B. She gets H4 visa based on your H1B merits. Once she gets her H4 visa she can come back to US and later on some employer can file her H1 with COS checked.

No issues, you are good to go. Better get the extension completed by the time you come back so that you will have the extended I-94. Even if you don't get that done you will be fine.

Check with your lawyer or employer. They are the right/responsible persons to answer all your questions.

If COS is checked in your H1B petition, you need to start working with your H1-B employer from the start date that is mentioned in I-797. Usually the start date will be couple of weeks ahead of the approval date. Hence you will have time to give notice period to your L1B employer and exit smoothly. If you wish to continue with L1B employer even after H1B approval then you need to exit country once and comeback on L1B visa which will super-seed the L1-H1 COS as you get a new I-94 at POE.