H1b Transfer Gap

[yamma]

Hi there,

I was recently laid off from employer A, but I have a job offer from employer B. Employer B is a new company so it has taken a few weeks to figure out an office address and other things to include on my H1B transfer petition. We are now waiting for approval of the LCA and plan to file in a few days.

However, it has been 3 weeks since my last pay stub from Employer A. I'm concerned that USCIS will reject my petition because I am technically out of status for these three weeks. I could have switched to TD status, but it seemed even more complicated that just filing for transfer. Should I be worried that they will reject the petition because of the gap?

[shervin143]

Hard to predict. Sometimes they approve if the transfer has initiated within the month from the last pay slip and sometimes they will send an RFE for the latest pay slip. Or sometimes, the petition gets approved as a consular process (without a new I-94), in which case yu need to go out of the country and get it stamped.

[yamma]

If they send an RFE and I can't produce the pay stub - will they reject the entire application? If that's the case should I just go to the border and file for change of status - I'm a Canadian? I think in that case I would be able to still get paid once the application is sent right?