J1 Visa to H1B Visa - J1 expired while H1B was already filed and is still pending

[carlossol]

Hello Community,

I am pretty active in some of those processing time threads. I would liek to give you a little overview of my current situation before you guys jump on and start answering my questions.

I started as an Intern in the Financial Industri on April 1st 2011 to intially September 30st 2011. At the beginning of September 2011 my Internship Company asked me to work fulltime as an Investment Advisor for them and said they would file for an H1B visa for me, but to get some more cushin we should extend my Internship program up to 3 months. We extended my Internship in September for 3 months so the new expiration date would be December 31st 2011 and at the same time they started preparing my H1B application which we filed the same months and received Receipt on September 22nd.

So my facts:

New Internship Dates

Expiration of J1 December 31st 2011, starting grace period on January 1st 2012

H1B Application

Filed September 21st 2011

Receipt Notice 22nd 2011

As of January 10th 2012 I am still in initial review of my pending H1B petition. My problem is now that I feel really uncomfortable with my situation. My grace period started January 1st and is valid for 30 days as my J1 Expired the same time. Am I legally in the USA after January 31st even if the grace period is over, but my H1B is still pending? I also don't understand whether I am still able to the change of status my company requested? My company filed for a J1 to H1B change of Status, which is still pending. But is it still possible to get this approved even if my J1 expired?

Thank You really much,

I appreciate the good input at this forum since I have seen some good and competent answers and maybe someone of you can help me with my little issue.

[carlossol]

Any help?

[carlossol]

Nothing??