Catch 22 situation : H1B cap exempt scenario

[xtremethunder]

Greetings to fellow members. I'm a newbie to this forum.I had tried to find answer for my question across various forums including this but i found conflicting information posted by different members. So i had decided to post my query here.

On 22 July 2008 USCIS had approved my I129 PETITION FOR A NONIMMIGRANT WORKER filed by Employer XYZ. Current status in the USCIS website is "Post Decision Activity"
I129 was valid from Oct 01'2008 until 30 Sep'2011.I did not opt to move to US as the economy wasn't doing well in my Line of Business.
Hence I did not plan for the Visa application/stamping process.

I had contacted Employer XYZ recently and they had confirmed that the I129 petition is no longer valid as it is more than 6 years since the application was filed.

So fellow members, my question to you all is

1. Is my I129 petition still valid?
2. If yes, then how long it is valid for?
3. Will it be difficult for the prospective employer to transfer my petition under their company via Cap Exempt option?
4. Can I apply for jobs stating that I have a valid I129 petition ?
5. Does the prospective employer need to get any Letter of consent from my Employer who had filed for my H1B application?
6. Had anyone come across similar scenario like mine and its outcome.

Would appreciate if you can provide few recommendations for immigration lawyers who had worked on your/friend/acquaintance case. I had googled for immigration lawyers and their feee seemed to more than 200$ on an average.

PS: Apologies for the long post as I want to provide much information I can to get clear answers to my query.

[xtremethunder]

Would appreciate if some senior members can answer my query.

[raghvi]

The issue is that there is ambiguity around USCIS's interpretation under such a scenario. I believe that your petition would be valid only till Oct 2014, that is within 6 Years from initial approval. So if you are able to find an employer before Oct 2014, and provide them with a copy of our original approval notice, they should be able to file a Cap Exempt petition for you.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[xtremethunder]

Thanks for your reply raghvi.

I do know one other user from this forum who was in a similar situation (Oct 2008 approved petition) and got his H1B visa a week ago. But he had started the Visa processing early July and it took close to 2 months with premium processing.

I was hoping to find if there are any one else who has undergone similar situation. I did speak to couple of consulting firms but they were quick to point out that it has been too long since the I129 was approved.