H1-B withdrawal notice - F1 record inactive

[Saif Ahmed Syed]

Hello,

I changed my employer last year(May 2018) while my H1B was in process and the employer I left delayed applying for withdrawal(told me it was done in June 2018 but they actually did it in November 2018) which I had no knowledge of. Now, I am working for my new employer since May 2018 and found out through my school that my F-1 record is inactive because my last year's H1B is approved. School is asking for acknowledgment of my last year's(2018) H1B to reinstate my F1 record. USCIS says that they won't withdraw application once it's approved. Filed FOIA petition(which gets you all the documents related to an I-129 or any other case with USCIS) received only the approval notice and the actual application which means there's no withdrawal acknowledgment on record.

My current year's H1B is picked in the lottery and still in progress. How bad is it to be on OPT while F1 is inactive? I'm not even sure what F1 record being inactive means. I have an OPT EAD card valid through 2020. I heard from somewhere that H1B approval is not the same as a change of status. 

I would appreciate if I can get some guidance on what I should do.

[JoeF]

As I mentioned in another forum, your OPT is invalid. It was tied to the F1, and since the F1 is gone the OPT is gone.

You need to stop working immediately, and you'd have to wait abroad for the H1 approval.