Using expired H1 Petition

[Zample10]

hi,

I am working in the US for employer A on L1 visa. My L1 visa and i94 expired last month. Employer A applied for my L1 extension last month. I have not received any reply from US CIS so far.

I have an expired H1 petition that was obtained thru consular process via employer B. This H1 petition was valid from Oct 2008-Oct 2011. But it was never used. I am being told by friends that it is possible to use this expired petition out of cap if an employer is willing to offer job and process it again. Is this correct? Since I am residing in U.S only with the receipt of L1 extension, is it still possible to use this expired petition now? I want to try this as many L1 extensions get rejected these days. Please help.

[jairichi]

Yes, your friends are correct. An employer could file a cap exempt H1B petition and upon approval you could start working on H1B. Out of maximum 6 years available on H1B you will get 6 years - number of years spent on L1.