OPT to H1 and maternity leave

[jananu]

X will be starting a new job with an employer on OPT and then getting H1 filed this april. However, will be requiring a maternity leave before October. How will this work?

-FMLA will not be eligible since it needs an employee to be working in a company for at least 12 months.

-Can an employee go on an unpaid short term disability leave (on OPT status) followed by a unpaid maternity leave( mostly on a H1 status)?

- or is it required to change to an H4 status while on disability and wait for the H1 status to become active in October?

- Also, mostly these leaves would be unpaid but can attain the necessary medical documentation for the same? Will that be ok?

- By when should one who's on maternity leave join back to the company once the H1 status has been activated (i.e, after october 1st)?

- Once you have a H1 approval receipt, will one be cap exempt? ( In any circumstances of needing to quit the job and join back after maternity, so that one wouldn't have to wait until next april ( for new h1 petition) and next october to start work?

these are a lot of questions.Would greatly appreciate some help.Been pretty confused about all of this.

[wiweq]

-Can an employee go on an unpaid short term disability leave (on OPT status) followed by a unpaid maternity leave( mostly on a H1 status)?

=> On OPT you don't need to be paid. On medical grounds on H1b you can stay unpaid. In short, If you are unable to report to work, you can stay unpaid.

- or is it required to change to an H4 status while on disability and wait for the H1 status to become active in October?

=> It's not required.

- Also, mostly these leaves would be unpaid but can attain the necessary medical documentation for the same? Will that be ok?

- By when should one who's on maternity leave join back to the company once the H1 status has been activated (i.e, after october 1st)?

=> You can take the leave as per doctor advice. Keep those medical documents to make sure that you were unpaid for medical grounds.

- Once you have a H1 approval receipt, will one be cap exempt? ( In any circumstances of needing to quit the job and join back after maternity, so that one wouldn't have to wait until next april ( for new h1 petition) and next october to start work?

=> Once your H1b is approved, you are exempted for 6 years of H1b stay.

[jananu]

thank you so much.

Just was wondering the answer for this:

By when should one who's on maternity leave join back to the company once the H1 status has been activated (i.e, after october 1st)?

Does it depend on the doctor's report?

[wiweq]

"By when should one who's on maternity leave join back to the company once the H1 status has been activated (i.e, after october 1st)?

Does it depend on the doctor's report? "

=> Though it depends on doctor's report, I would suggest hiring an attorney and discussing your case in detail. They would also tell you that what kinds of documentations are important in your particular case. A couple of hundred dollars will make life easy.

[t75]

Maternity leave is 6 or 8 weeks. It may be extended for complications but not just because mom wants to stay home with baby. That is the US standard. You need to change to a dependent status for voluntary leave.

[jananu]

Thanks a lot.