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[shyam_t_e]

Hi,

I am currently on H1B and my wife is on L1B work visa and her I94 is getting expired by end of February and her employer has already filed for an L1B extension. We are travelling to India in March and she would return by the end of March if her L1 gets approved . Since L1 visa rejection rate has increased drastically now a days, we were planning to find an employer here who would file her H1B in the 2013 quota.

My question is, can the new employer file her H1B visa on April 1st while she is in India, and after a couple of months when she would enter the US on H4 visa, can the employer file a COS (Change of Status) at that point of time before the H1B visa gets activated in October? Or is it mandatory that she has to be in the US on H4 already by April 1st, so that while filing H1B, the employer would file the COS along the application.

Please let me know if my question is not clear, so i can explain more.

Thanks

Tom