Moving back to US

[kswamin]

Hi,

I was working with a company in North Carolina until Nov 2011. The company had sponsored my H1B and is valid until Sept 2013 as per the stamp on the VISA on my passport. Due to personal reasons I had to move to India in Dec 2011 after quitting the company on good terms. Now I'm ready to go back and work with the company where I worked earlier as they are also interested in having me back on board. What should I do next?

A point of concern is that, the company where I worked for is in the process of being acquired by another company. Would this change anything with respect to the VISA since the company's name may or may not be retained as earlier.

Should I wait for the acquisition to go through and get a new offer letter? Assuming that the name of the company changed would this mean I have to get a new VISA stamped?

[pontevecchio]

They will need to file a H1 petition non cap and get it approved first. The rest is all paper work and the company will provide that.

[kswamin]

Thank you. Since I was away from the US for a year now, would that count towards the 3 year limit on H1B or would the count start when I reenter US?

Also am I eligible to apply to any other company in the US too? Would that also be similar to filing a H1B petition for non cap by the employer?

[pontevecchio]

You can claim the remainder of your total of 6 years in H1 status at any time..non cap... If you want a fresh term that can be applied in April for a start date of October onwards.