H1 for my wife

[gsheelva]

Hi,

Thanks for your support. Here are my case details. Your input will be very helpful.

I am on H1B visa with approved I140 and continuing on H1B renewals. My wife is currently on H4 for past ~3 years. Before that, she worked for a company in US on H1B and finished up all 6 years of H1B. She moved to H4 status after finishing her 6 years of H1B. Most of the 3years on H4 were spent in US. She also has US University based Masters Degree. She now plans to go back to work after this 3 year break with both our kids old enough. Here are my questions:

1) Is she eligible for a new H1B, if a company is willing to file a case for her, in this current state - I want to know if she really need to step out of US for 1 year for this eligibility. Does that 1 year period have to be continuous?

2) Since she has a US University based Masters Degree - does she fall into the standard H1B bucket?

Thanks for your support.

[JoeF]

She needs to be outside the US for 1 year to be eligible for a new H1.

Brief visits for business or pleasure, i.e., on B1/B2 are allowed, but such visits do not count as part of the one-year requirement.

[gsheelva]

She needs to be outside the US for 1 year to be eligible for a new H1.

Brief visits for business or pleasure, i.e., on B1/B2 are allowed, but such visits do not count as part of the one-year requirement.

Thanks for the reply.

Does that period have to be contiguous or is it ok to spread it around?

[t75]

A vacation here and there will not count for the year. You and she MUST obey the rules. Her masters degree has no impact on the laws - they are applied consistently for all unless there are specifically stated exceptions.

[gsheelva]

A vacation here and there will not count for the year. You and she MUST obey the rules. Her masters degree has no impact on the laws - they are applied consistently for all unless there are specifically stated exceptions.

Thanks for your reply.

Your reply is very useful. Just for records, I am trying to find the rules and understand the situation, please do not assume that I am trying to break rules, etc.

Regarding the Master's degree question, I know when we both finished our Masters degree and moved to H1B, we were not subject to the standard H1B quota(which was around 10years ago), so I was wondering if that still applied. It is a bit cryptic to read and understand the USCIS documents, hence I posted the questions here in this forum. Thanks for your support.

[wiweq]

1) Is she eligible for a new H1B, if a company is willing to file a case for her, in this current state - I want to know if she really need to step out of US for 1 year for this eligibility. Does that 1 year period have to be continuous?

=> As others said, she needs to be outside of USA to be eligible for another 6 years quota.

2) Since she has a US University based Master’s Degree - does she fall into the standard H1B bucket?

=> As per my knowledge, US based Advance degree helps for the Advanced Degree Quota for up to 6 years only. Wait for other's comments on this.

[JoeF]

2) Since she has a US University based Master’s Degree - does she fall into the standard H1B bucket?

=> As per my knowledge, US based Advance degree helps for the Advanced Degree Quota for up to 6 years only. Wait for other's comments on this.

As far as I know, currently, a person who has an advanced degree from an accredited public or accredited,non-profit private university in the US would qualify for the H1 advanced degree quota, regardless of when the person got the degree.

[wiweq]

As far as I know, currently, a person who has an advanced degree from an accredited public or accredited,non-profit private university in the US would qualify for the H1 advanced degree quota, regardless of when the person got the degree.

Good to know that, thanks for input JoeF.