Situation with Lay off on H1B....whats the option??

[immihelp12345]

Hello there,

 

Right now I am in a tricky situation. I was working on H1B work visa with Mechanical industry. I came to US on F1 visa for my masters, finished it and got hired by a big Mechanical industry. They applied for my H1B but first year it did not got selected in lottery. So they applied again on next year and this time it got approved and I got H1B. It started Oct 2015 and I was happy.

But suddenly I got laid off from company Mid-Nov. 2015 and I became unemployed. As my company is famous for following rules, they told me this is your last day in company and they informed USCIS on that day only. Now I have following questions.

1. Is that mean I am already out of status?

2. Now I am trying to find jobs as soon as possible. So if I get job, can I apply to transfer my current H1B to new company or new company needs to file new H1B application for my employment with them?

3. I am thinking about changing my visa type to F1 / B1, B2. So that I can get some more days to apply for jobs. Is that will be fine? If I change my visa to F1/B1, B2 and in future if I get job, can I just transfer my visa status back to H1B status?

4. Which of visa will be better in my situation: changing to F1 / changing to B1,B2?

5. Also if anyone has experience with this situation, will appreciate if they can share it.

 

Thank you.

[JoeF]

You are out of status from the day of layoff. The H1 revocation is completely irrelevant for you. That has been explained here lots of times.

 

You should have filed a COS to some other status like B2 immediately.

A change to F1 is not going to work, because universities have application deadlines.  That has also been explained here lots of times.

A new H1 would very likely be approved without status extension, so you will have to leave the country and get an H1 visa.

[jairichi]

1. Yes.

2. It is a new cap exempt H1B petition.

3. You are late to apply for a COS as you are already out of status.

4. You can try B2. Which school will give you admission now?

[immihelp12345]

You are out of status from the day of layoff. The H1 revocation is completely irrelevant for you. That has been explained here lots of times.

 

You should have filed a COS to some other status like B2 immediately.

A change to F1 is not going to work, because universities have application deadlines.  That has also been explained here lots of times.

A new H1 would very likely be approved without status extension, so you will have to leave the country and get an H1 visa.

Thank you for your reply. Can I apply to COS now?

[jairichi]

Thank you for your reply. Can I apply to COS now?

Refer my response 3.

[JoeF]

Thank you for your reply. Can I apply to COS now?

 

You can try, but it is unlikely to get approved, because for COS, you need to be in valid status when it is filed.

USCIS may excuse a few days out of status, but it is already 2 weeks for you.