Satishroy Posted January 22, 2013 Report Posted January 22, 2013 My understanding is that if one is working on a cap-exempt H1-B, has not been counted against the cap subject H1-B cap in the previous six years, and receives a corporate job offer, then the new corporate employer may file for a cap subject H1-B if the cap has not been reached, that one may start working for the new employer immediately without waiting for the new H1-B application to get approved, but that one needs to stop work and possibly leave the country if the visa gets approved before October 1st of that year. Is this correct? If yes, does it then make sense to ask the new employer to file for a non-expedited petition hoping that it would not get approved before October 1st? I also read that for one to be counted against the cap in the new application, one needs to stop working for the cap-exempt employer first. Is this correct? If yes, does it mean that as soon as the new corporate employer agrees to file for H1-B, one needs to stop working for the cap-exempt employer before the cap-subject H1-B petition can actually be sent to USCIS? If yes, will one not fall out of status? Also, does one need to get a letter from the cap-exempt employer stating that one has been working for them until recently, and enclose it with the new H1-B application? Can anybody give details on this process as to what the exact sequence of operations should be? Thank you!
JoeF Posted January 23, 2013 Report Posted January 23, 2013 My understanding is that if one is working on a cap-exempt H1-B, has not been counted against the cap subject H1-B cap in the previous six years, and receives a corporate job offer, then the new corporate employer may file for a cap subject H1-B if the cap has not been reached, that one may start working for the new employer immediately without waiting for the new H1-B application to get approved, but that one needs to stop work and possibly leave the country if the visa gets approved before October 1st of that year. Is this correct? The person would have to stop working for the new employer if the new H1 gets approved before Oct. 1, and could only start working for the employer from Oct. 1 on. But, the person could continue to work for the old employer until the new H1 kicks in on Oct. 1.
jairichi Posted January 23, 2013 Report Posted January 23, 2013 Hi, I am also in the same boat. I work with a cap exempt H1B now. A prospective employer is ready to hire me and ready to file for a cap subject H1B in April provided I can start working immediately after filing of the cap subject application. I found lots of law firms in internet explaining about this H1B portability and that one could start working immediately after filing a new H1B application for portability. In murthy forum there was a discussion in which one person successfully was able to do this from cap exempt to cap subject. Tried to address my questions to him but have not got a reply yet.
JoeF Posted January 23, 2013 Report Posted January 23, 2013 Hi, I am also in the same boat. I work with a cap exempt H1B now. A prospective employer is ready to hire me and ready to file for a cap subject H1B in April provided I can start working immediately after filing of the cap subject application. I found lots of law firms in internet explaining about this H1B portability and that one could start working immediately after filing a new H1B application for portability. While that is possible, you would have to stop working for the new employer when the H1 is approved, and you can only start again on Oct. 1. That's why this is not really practical.
jairichi Posted January 24, 2013 Report Posted January 24, 2013 While that is possible, you would have to stop working for the new employer when the H1 is approved, and you can only start again on Oct. 1. That's why this is not really practical. Yes, I completely agree with you, Joe. But, if you look at last year dates of H1B approval a reasonable number of them got the approval of freshly filed H1B application by August end or September or October. Is not it worth taking a risk? Also, if in case the H1 portability application gets approved, say end of August one can switch to H4 (if spouse is on H1) to be on legal status in US and start working again from Oct 1st. The main problem is unlike IT industry most pharma & biotech companies are not ready to wait that six months for the prospective employee to start work.
JoeF Posted January 24, 2013 Report Posted January 24, 2013 The main problem is unlike IT industry most pharma & biotech companies are not ready to wait that six months for the prospective employee to start work. Well, in the IT industry, that's also usually not possible. Only most shady consulting companies do that. No real company would keep a job offer open for 6 months. For people working at "real" companies like Google, etc., they usually work there after graduation with OPT, and that way, the change to H1 is seamless. Unfortunately, working on a cap-exempt H1 nowadays pretty much locks you in to that academic track. Changing to H4 for a few months could actually make things more confusing, since an H4 approval could then interfere with the H1 approval, so all of a sudden you could find yourself being on H4 come October, and then you'd have to wait for the change to H1 again. In some cases, i may be possible to work remotely from your home country until Oct. 1.
Satishroy Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Posted January 24, 2013 If yes, does it then make sense to ask the new employer to file for a non-expedited petition hoping that it would not get approved before October 1st? I also read that for one to be counted against the cap in the new application, one needs to stop working for the cap-exempt employer first. Is this correct? If yes, does it mean that as soon as the new corporate employer agrees to file for H1-B, one needs to stop working for the cap-exempt employer before the cap-subject H1-B petition can actually be sent to USCIS? If yes, will one not fall out of status? Also, does one need to get a letter from the cap-exempt employer stating that one has been working for them until recently, and enclose it with the new H1-B application? Can anybody give details on this process as to what the exact sequence of operations should be? Thank you! Thank you, JoeF, for your response! I am curious to know about the exact sequence of operations in this process so that one can be counted against the cap in the new application.
sirireddy Posted February 25, 2013 Report Posted February 25, 2013 Hi everyone, I am currently working for a cap-exempt employer, never been counted in the CAP. I want to move to a Cap-subject category so that I will have more options in the future, I read all the previous messages and technically no employer would wait for you for 6months inorder for you to start. My cap-exempt H1B is valid until 2015. Question1: Can I apply through the same cap-exempt employer for this APRIL1st in the CAP H1B master degree category, so that I can continue working with the same employer until sep 31st on previously approved cap-exempt visa, and can continue working from Oct1st on the new cap-subject visa. Later on if I can get a job with cooperative comapny , I can just do a transfer. I dont know if I can do this, please help me with this issue. My employer is ok to file for a new applictaion
nnadipa Posted October 12, 2013 Report Posted October 12, 2013 Hello, Did any one in this thread whi posted got thru the situation. I am jus curious to know how you guys handled the situation Thanks!
t.shah Posted June 19, 2016 Report Posted June 19, 2016 @jairichi..are you working for cap exempt H1B employer for biotech/pharma? I am looking for this kind of a job too. Is there any way we could connect?
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