H1B approved. Left company before H1B effective date. What's my current visa status?

[Ok56]

Hi,

While I was on OPT F1, I got my H1B approved on May 1st, 2014. I left
the company which filed my H1B, before Oct 1st, 2014, the effective date.
Now, I am unsure of my visa status as I am not sure whether that H1B
has been revoked or not and also when was it revoked if at all it was.

As per the instructions mentioned at ***,
it all depends on whether the company withdrew H1B before the effective
date or not.

Can anyone help me in figuring out my visa status? Is there any way to
know one's H1B to be valid or not, or one's OPT F1 to be valid or not?
By the way, my OPT F1 is mentioned to end on Feb 2015.

Thanks.

[raghvi]

When you say "left company" does it mean left USA too? If you merely resigned from the company and the company did not file a withdrawal (which they most probably would not have) then you do not automatically move back to F1. The ideal way would have been to leave US and re enter on the F1 visa in order to avoid the COS from F1 to H1 to kick in on Oct 1st 2014 even if they did not file the withdrawal.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[Ok56]

When you say "left company" does it mean left USA too? If you merely resigned from the company and the company did not file a withdrawal (which they most probably would not have) then you do not automatically move back to F1. The ideal way would have been to leave US and re enter on the F1 visa in order to avoid the COS from F1 to H1 to kick in on Oct 1st 2014 even if they did not file the withdrawal.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thanks for the input.

I left the company and am still in US since I am not clear whether I am on OPT F1 or H1B.
However, the company has been saying that if I never took up the employment with them
on the effective date, my H1B won't be valid. Now, do they mean that H1B revoke request
has been sent before effective date, since I was no longer with them on
Oct 1st, 2014? - this is not clear. I'm trying to extract as much information as possible from
them. So far, they have been saying the same thing - if I never took up H1B employment
with them, my H1B won't be valid. And thus, I am still under the assumption that I am on
OPT F1 adnd its rules apply when I am in US.

By the way, is there any way to check and confirm whether one's:
* OPT F1 is valid or not?
* H1B is valid or not?
* SEVIS data is updated to reflect H1B or not, etc?

I am trying to contact my school for SEVIS data and USCIS for H1B information. Is this
safe to be done since it's advisable to leave US on my own instead of letting them know
that I have overstayed if at all H1B is active for some reason and face the consequences?

What are the consequences when one has no clear confirmation from one's employer
in such a situation about one's visa status and one has to leave after the USCIS comes
to know that I have been overstaying for few days?

How difficult is to get an H1B employment if I leave US and try from my home country
given all these?

This is absolutely driving me CRAZY! I didn't expect any of these to happen when I
quit my company. Now all of a sudden, I am in this big mess. Does anyone think
that I can still have hope to get an H1B employment soon?

-----------------------------------------

Also, if my company has revoked H1B before effective date, which means I am on OPT F1,
which ends in somewhere in 2015, and I find an e-verified employer so that I can apply for
STEM extension of 17 months immediately after joining, WHAT are the chances of getting
selected again in H1B lottery again in 2015 given that I was selected in 2014 H1B lottery?
Is there any restriction for a person to have two back-to-back H1B lottery selection? Has
anyone been in this situation?

----------------------------------------

WHAT do you think the correct step to take for me given ALL of these??!!!

Please help. I'm on the verge of virtually killing myself with no experience in this.

Thanks.

PS: If you suggest me to contact a lawyer, please let me know who's best to address
these kind of difficulties in a fast paced manner. Thanks in advance.

[raghvi]

Thanks for the input.

I left the company and am still in US since I am not clear whether I am on OPT F1 or H1B.
However, the company has been saying that if I never took up the employment with them
on the effective date, my H1B won't be valid. Now, do they mean that H1B revoke request
has been sent before effective date, since I was no longer with them on
Oct 1st, 2014? - this is not clear. I'm trying to extract as much information as possible from
them. So far, they have been saying the same thing - if I never took up H1B employment
with them, my H1B won't be valid. And thus, I am still under the assumption that I am on
OPT F1 adnd its rules apply when I am in US.

By the way, is there any way to check and confirm whether one's:
* OPT F1 is valid or not?
* H1B is valid or not?
* SEVIS data is updated to reflect H1B or not, etc?

I am trying to contact my school for SEVIS data and USCIS for H1B information. Is this
safe to be done since it's advisable to leave US on my own instead of letting them know
that I have overstayed if at all H1B is active for some reason and face the consequences?

What are the consequences when one has no clear confirmation from one's employer
in such a situation about one's visa status and one has to leave after the USCIS comes
to know that I have been overstaying for few days?

How difficult is to get an H1B employment if I leave US and try from my home country
given all these?

This is absolutely driving me CRAZY! I didn't expect any of these to happen when I
quit my company. Now all of a sudden, I am in this big mess. Does anyone think
that I can still have hope to get an H1B employment soon?

-----------------------------------------

Also, if my company has revoked H1B before effective date, which means I am on OPT F1,
which ends in somewhere in 2015, and I find an e-verified employer so that I can apply for
STEM extension of 17 months immediately after joining, WHAT are the chances of getting
selected again in H1B lottery again in 2015 given that I was selected in 2014 H1B lottery?
Is there any restriction for a person to have two back-to-back H1B lottery selection? Has
anyone been in this situation?

----------------------------------------

WHAT do you think the correct step to take for me given ALL of these??!!!

Please help. I'm on the verge of virtually killing myself with no experience in this.

Thanks.

PS: If you suggest me to contact a lawyer, please let me know who's best to address
these kind of difficulties in a fast paced manner. Thanks in advance.

I believe that only if the employer filed for withdrawal before the 01-Oct-2014 would your F1 and OPT would be valid. Unfortunately there is no concrete way of checking that.

If your OPT is ending in Feb 2015, what plans do you have beyond that?

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[Ok56]

I believe that only if the employer filed for withdrawal before the 01-Oct-2014 would your F1 and OPT would be valid. Unfortunately there is no concrete way of checking that.

If your OPT is ending in Feb 2015, what plans do you have beyond that?

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thanks for your input. That's what I am trying to figure out but the employer's attorneys are
repeatedly saying that my H1B sponsored by them is not valid as I never took their H1B
employment as on Oct 1st, 2014. I have sent them the link - *** which says my current visa status depends on whether they timely withdrew
H1B or not. I am waiting to talk to them on Monday. Till then I need to have utmost
patience and calmness - no other option!

Quick question: Does I-94 information help in this? I checked my latest I-94 information
at ***. It still has information about my recent
entry to US in OPT F1. It has nothing about my H1B etc.

As far as my OPT F1 is concerned, I am trying to find an e-verified employer
so that I can extend my OPT F1 and get H1B sponsored again for Oct 2015.
Do you think there is a problem in this approach of getting H1B lottery again?

All in all, I am assuming I am on OPT F1 so that I soon find an e-verified
employer so that I can apply for STEM extension and wouldn't have to
go back to my country bare hands and try hard to find an employer in US
sitting in my country. What do you think about this?

Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -



Also, I am still not convinced that information in this link - ** is applicable to me as it says cap-gap in the title and I am not in cap-gap
as my OPT F1 was active when H1B effective date was reached. What do you think
about this?

Thanks.

[Shankar Subramaniam]

Hello Ok56,
What was the end result of your situation? Did your H1B get rejected as you left employer in Sept ?