H1B transfer and extension at the same time with expired i94

[gumnaam_indian]

Hope you are doing well.

I am in a confused with my USA H1B visa and need your suggestions.

I work for company A on H1B in USA. My i94 expired in July this year. My employer have filed for extension which is still pending with USCIS.

I have got a offer with two companies B & C. Both are with companies with decent presence in the US.

B is ready to apply for my H1B transfer.

C is saying that it is not possible to apply for H1B transfer on a expired i94, and when extension with A is still in progress. C would like to wait for the H1 extension with A to get approved, and then they would apply for H1B transfer.

I am confused with their different answers.

Have anyone been in such situation earlier? What have you done? Appreciate your replies on this post.

--
GI

[gumnaam_indian]

I got response from Attorney that a decision has to be made on my current extension so that the new transfer could be applied, as visa is expired as per i94.

[thisIsPoseidon]

I am in a similar situation. I got an RFE recently. Planning to ask the new employer to file a new case under "new employment" and get the visa through consular processing. This is probably the safest as there is no dependency on the existing case with the current employer.

[visuala]

I got response from Attorney that a decision has to be made on my current extension so that the new transfer could be applied, as visa is expired as per i94.

That is correct and if unfortunately your current extension is denied then you would have to leave the country so that your new employer can file a new employment via counselor processing. Your current employer can also file new H-1 under counselor processing. But in either case you would have to leave the country as I-94 is already expired. I have been through this last year.