B1 Visa - will it impact cooling off period for H1b

[amitkhade]

(Today's date - 5th Jan 2016)

Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing great , I wanted your help on the situation below.

I was on L1 B visa in the US with Employer A and I travelled back to India to March 28 , 2015 after spending close to 4.8 years on L1 B.

Now , I am with Employer B and they want to file a B1 visa for me (strictly for B1 allowed roles and responsibilities) in January'16 and travel in March'16.

I also intend to get a new fresh H1 B filed later with Employer B on April 1 2016 when I would complete 1 year cooling period (29 March 2015 - 31 March 2016).

I wanted to know if my B1 travel/application now (between Jan'16 and March '16) will have any impact of cooling off period for a fresh H1 b?

My duration of stay on B1 would be 4-6 weeks. I do not want to kill the cooling period for matter of couple of months but would go if B1 has no impact on cool off period.

OR Option 2 - Is it better to file for B1 visa after 1st April'16 so that a new visa application is made after cool off period ?

Thank you for your response and help in advance.

[jnk]

Option 2.