Need clarrification 6yrs timeframe - and do the 6yrs clock started in my case

[raveendra]

Hi Immihelp,


Need a piece of clarification . My petition approval day is : 17th Nov 2015. Visa stamping day is : 15th Jan 2016. Due to certain personal reasons, I haven't yet traveled to US. I have never landed in US so far in life time. does my 6yrs validity clock already started OR it starts only from the day i first land is US?

Thanks
Regards,

[raghvi]

Hi Immihelp,


Need a piece of clarification . My petition approval day is : 17th Nov 2015. Visa stamping day is : 15th Jan 2016. Due to certain personal reasons, I haven't yet traveled to US. I have never landed in US so far in life time. does my 6yrs validity clock already started OR it starts only from the day i first land is US?

Thanks
Regards,

Contrary to popular belief, there are three timelines one needs to take care of.

First, the petition itself, if not used for traveling within 6 Years, it would lapse. That is, one can claim cap exemption till 6 years from initial filing year. In your case, that would be Nov 2021. So either current employer or any other employer can file cap exempt for you till Nov 2021, provided you dont travel till then. If indeed you do travel on H1, either for current employer or another one, then the next timeline takes over.

Second timeline starts once you travel on a valid H1. If petition is used, and one travels on it, one can claim cap exemption up to 6 Years from ones last held valid H1 status. To take an example, if you travel first time into US on a valid H1, say in Nov 2017 and stay till Nov 2018 on H1, and then move out of US, then you can claim cap exemption till Nov 2024.

Third is the total duration of H1 itself. Say you travel first time on H1 in Nov 2017 then at max you can stay in US continuously, without leaving US, in H1 status, is Nov 2023. Now, many times one travels into US, on H1, then goes out of US for vacations/home visits etc. or moves to another visa status say H4 etc, so in order to calculate this 6 Year duration one needs to sum up only the days one spends in US while in H1 status only. In order to stay beyond this 6 year limitation, one needs to get oneself a GC filed, but that's a different topic itself.

This is my opinion not legal advice.