H1b grace period

[sidmurthy0706]

I am currently on bench with an employer and they would terminate my employment this month end (Jan 31st) if i do not get a project with them. And they have mentioned that they would withdraw the H1B visa prior my termination. I am aware that there is a grace period of 60 days which is really helpful for the transition to a new employer. I have another offer in hand, they will start processing sometime next week or the week after. My question is that "Will i still be able to transfer my visa without any hassles even if my current employer with draws my H1B?". Can i still use the 60 day grace period if the employer with draws (revokes) my H1B? 

Would really appreciate any inputs on this. 

Thank you.

Edited January 23, 2020 by sidmurthy0706

[User099]

8 hours ago, sidmurthy0706 said:

Will i still be able to transfer my visa without any hassles even if my current employer with draws my H1B?". Can i still use the 60 day grace period if the employer with draws (revokes) my H1B? 

Yes, you can still transfer your H1. Yes, you can still use the 60 day grace period.

BUT one thing to check is how long is your I94 valid? The grace period is 60 day or until I94 expiry date which ever is shorter. 

[sidmurthy0706]

Thank you for the response. Thats great to hear. I have my 1-94 valid till Aug 2020, so i believe i can use all of the 2 months grace period even if my employer withdraws the H1B

[gopalakrishnach]

My question is that "Will i still be able to transfer my visa without any hassles even if my current employer with draws my H1B?" --- YES and depeneds on I94 validity. End of 60 days or end od I94 which ever comes first you need to consider.

[User099]

On 1/24/2020 at 9:06 AM, sidmurthy0706 said:

Thank you for the response. Thats great to hear. I have my 1-94 valid till Aug 2020, so i believe i can use all of the 2 months grace period even if my employer withdraws the H1B

Yes.

[Attorney_15]

An employer's withdrawal of an H1B Petition after the beneficiary has ended his / her employment should not have any impact on the existence or use of the grace period. An employer has an obligation to withdraw an H1B when employment ends. The grace period exists only when employment ends. To co-exist, the withdrawal of the petition should not have any impact on the grace period.

[sidmurthy0706]

Sure. Thank you for a detailed explanation. This really helped me get lot of doubts out of my mind. 🙂

[sidmurthy0706]

I have a follow up question which is,

1. If my current employer withdraws my H1B, should the new employer do a normal H1B transfer or is there another process? 

2. If the new employer had started the transfer with current i-797 which is valid and the old employer with draws it, will that be an issue?

Regards,

Sid.

[User099]

19 hours ago, sidmurthy0706 said:

I have a follow up question which is,

1. If my current employer withdraws my H1B, should the new employer do a normal H1B transfer or is there another process? 

2. If the new employer had started the transfer with current i-797 which is valid and the old employer with draws it, will that be an issue?

Regards,

Sid.

1. New employer will do a normal H1 transfer, there is no separate process. 

2. No issues.

Its pretty common to withdraw H1 once you leave a company. Don't worry too much about it.

[sidmurthy0706]

Sure. Thank you for your response. 

So i am in the situation where i have two offers... the one i wanted to join has the offer letter as march 25th (Tentative), because of the BG screening and visa approval. The other one is immediate joining. So, in this case i want to join the former company, but waiting till the 60 day end of grace period would be risky. I am planning to join with the latter offer and then come back to the first one after two months. 

So in this case both employers would be filing for my extension. Would there be an issue if two employers process the H1B. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am little confused in this situation here. (And today my employment ends with current employer)

[User099]

No issues. The company you want to join on March 25th, will have to file for a case by then which will be in the 60 day window so you should be fine. 

On 1/31/2020 at 1:42 PM, sidmurthy0706 said:

So in this case both employers would be filing for my extension. Would there be an issue if two employers process the H1B.