L1B to H1B Extension

[jambalahat]

Hi,

I am currently working for an MNC here in US and holding an L1B which is getting expired on this Sept 17. When i was talking to my Immigration team, i was told that, an H1B extension will be filed for the fiscal year of 2012. Assume that the H1 petition has been approved, i need to go out of country (probably Canada/Mexico) to get the stamping inorder to make my H1 effective from Oct 1 2012 as i am currently working here on a different work VISA (L1B).

I am little confused here..because i have a lot of friends who are actually moved from L1 to H1 with out the stamping.

Apart from the above, i have the following questions too.

- Assume that my H1 petition approved for the year of 2012,

1) Would i be getting only 1 year of extension since i am here on L1 already (or) it would be considered as a new H1 which is valid for 3 years?

2) I have around 5 months that i spent in India during my current L1B duration. So can i apply for recapturing this time my H1 petition got approved? If i apply for the L1B recapturing period, would that be added to the H1 which would already been approved, so that my H1 can get extended 1 year + additional 5 months?

Need your help in understanding this stuff here.

Thanks.

[srirangan]

If you have completed 5 years on your L1B, then H1B will be given for 1 year, totalling 6 years after which one has to be outside of US for a period of one year.

Regardin point 2, time spent on vacation outside of USA is counted towards the 5/6 years cap. H1B extension will be given for 1 year and not 1 Year and 5 Months.

Hope this helps

[jambalahat]

Thank you,

When i was talking to my Immigration team, i was told that, an H1B extension will be filed for the fiscal year of 2012. Assume that the H1 petition has been approved, i need to go out of country (probably Canada/Mexico) to get the stamping inorder to make my H1 effective from Oct 1 2012 as i am currently working here on a different work VISA (L1B).

Is this true?

Thanks

[kalyan_ac]

Thank you,

When i was talking to my Immigration team, i was told that, an H1B extension will be filed for the fiscal year of 2012. Assume that the H1 petition has been approved, i need to go out of country (probably Canada/Mexico) to get the stamping inorder to make my H1 effective from Oct 1 2012 as i am currently working here on a different work VISA (L1B).

Is this true?

Thanks

You dont have to go for stamping to make the approved petition effective.

You only have to go for stamping if your leaving US and willing to come back.

If you want to continue working here, the approved petition is all you need.

[jambalahat]

Thank you.

[cooltoo8190]

Mr. Thanks, You need to leave the country and go for stamping. This is because current L1B/I-94 expires on 17-sep-2012.

For a company to file H1 with COS you need to be in country with valid visa on 30-sep-2012 which is not there. Hence you need to go for stamping.

You cannot go for stamping in Mexico because first time H1B stamping is not allowed in Mexico. You can try canada but there are also legal obligations there for first time H1B. Check out their sites for more info,