Question While booking H1B appointment

[ashiktmz]

When I was about to book the visa appointment, there is a question

Are you applying for the same class of visa which is currently valid or has expired within the past 12 months?*

I am going for my first ever H1B stamping but it is for my second H1B petition. The first 3 year H1B petition expired on Sep 20th, 2011. The second one is valid till Sep 20th, 2014. The previous visa I had stamped on my passport was F1.

What should be my answer? I guess its NO. But one of my friend who was in a similar situation answered YES and got his VISA!!

[aboppana]

I believ, you need to select 'Yes' as you are currently on H1 status (not the F1 stamp in your passport)

[ashiktmz]

I agree that my F1 Stamp is expired and I am currently in USA on H1B status and NOT H1B Visa. By definition, visa is something issued only at a consulate and it should be stamped on my passport. Therefore, H1 visa and I-797 are two different things.

Therefore, the answer for

Are you applying for the same class of visa which is currently valid or has expired within the past 12 months"

is technically NO, since I neither have a visa of the same class nor did it expire (since I never had it to begin with).

But I assume that the Consulate may not have framed the question properly. Can an expert like Pontevecchio please give their thoughts on this?