L1 to H1 CoS. Can I resign before H1 start date?

[sujit434]

Dear gurus,

My petitioner filed for my L1 to H1 Change of Status. They filed for start date on 1/24/11. I already received the receipt number and expecting the decision at any time from now. I am hoping that I will receive the I-797 and I-94 on or before 1/14/11.

My query is, can I submit resignation to L1 employer by 1/14/11? Is it possible for my L1 employer to revoke my L1 visa in the meantime? In the worst-case scenario, if L1 employer revoked it before 1/24/11, I will be out of status and so my CoS also going to be invalid.

What should I do? Do I need to wait until 1/24/11 to submit resignation? Or do you say that the L1 employer cannot revoke the L1 visa with such narrow time frame?

Please throw some light.

Thanks,
Sujit

[shervin143]

What if your H1B petition is either rejected or endup on an RFE and if the employer is unable to produce the required documents. It is never advisable to quit your current job unless the H1B gets approved. Being optimistic is good. But sometimes you need to weigh your options correctly and not endup returning back to home country.

Well, to answer your question, you cannot join the H1B employer until effective date on the approved petition. There are chances that your L1 employer might send notification to USCIS to revoke the L1 which USCIS might act immediately or not is no ones guess.

[sujit434]

Dear Shervin,

Thanks for your reply. Here is what I think,

What if your H1B petition is either rejected or endup on an RFE and if the employer is unable to produce the required documents. It is never advisable to quit your current job unless the H1B gets approved. Being optimistic is good. But sometimes you need to weigh your options correctly and not endup returning back to home country.
--I am not going to quit/sumit resignation until I receive the I-797 and I-94 on hand. I am just asking whether I can submit resignation after I receive I-94 on hand but before the H1 start date.--

Well, to answer your question, you cannot join the H1B employer until effective date on the approved petition. --I am aware that I cannot join H1 employer until visa effective date. However, I am just planning to serve notice period in between the gap from USCIS decision date (followed by receiving I-94) and H1 start date.--There are chances that your L1 employer might send notification to USCIS to revoke the L1 which USCIS might act immediately or not is no ones guess.Ok. this is what I want to know. What date do you think is good for me to submit resignation? after 1/24/11? or anytime before that, say in the week before that?

Thank you very much for your time.

Sujit.

[shervin143]

--I am not going to quit/sumit resignation until I receive the I-797 and I-94 on hand. I am just asking whether I can submit resignation after I receive I-94 on hand but before the H1 start date.--
>>> Yes. You can submit your resignation anytime. H1B approval has nothing to do with your resignation. Yu just need to keep in mind that any employment with the L1 employer after the effective date of COS is illegal. If your H1B I-94 effective date is Feb 1st, then you should be working for the H1B employer starting that date.

--I am aware that I cannot join H1 employer until visa effective date. However, I am just planning to serve notice period in between the gap from USCIS decision date (followed by receiving I-94) and H1 start date.--
>>> Well, that depends on how the H1B petition is filed. If the H1B petition is filed with a start date in future (Say Feb 1st), then after receiving your H1B approval notice you will have time until Feb 1st to serve the notice period. If the H1B was applied with an immediate start date, by the time you receive your approval notice you will have to immediately quit the L1 employer and join the H1B employer. Check with your H1B employer to see when was the start date requested in their petition.

Ok. this is what I want to know. What date do you think is good for me to submit resignation? after 1/24/11? or anytime before that, say in the week before that?
>>> I would suggest you to do that only after the petition gets approved. You don't need to wait for the hard copy of the approval. If the status chnages in USCIS case tracking system, you can submit your resignation.

[txh1b]

You can resign and provide the notice anytime. If your notice period is 3 weeks, you can do that. If H1 gets approved by 2nd week, you cannot continue work there just because your employer has a notice period. It is illegal employment.

[sujit434]

I was planning to serve two weeks of notice, if at all I can. Based on your inputs, I feel it is bit risky to file resignation before the H1 start date. L1 employer can either revoke the L1 visa by contacting USCIS or they can immediately terminate my employment by asking me to go back to India. Both will have the same effect of me going out of status, if I stay in US after the action from L1 employer before H1 start date. CoS is something that is effective only when the person is in status. Hence, I feel it is better to avoid submit resignation before start date. I will resign after H1 start date and be with L1 for a week and then join H1 employer. Do you think that this one week of employment with L1 employer will create issues? I am aware that this is not legal however it should be ok as we need to serve atleast a week of notice on moral grounds, right?

[txh1b]

I will resign after H1 start date and be with L1 for a week and then join H1 employer. Do you think that this one week of employment with L1 employer will create issues? I am aware that this is not legal however it should be ok as we need to serve atleast a week of notice on moral grounds, right?

Working on L1 with a H1b is ILLEGAL employment. It is much more harmful than being out of status. If you serve a notice period for L1 employer, why would they pay money out of pocket and buy you tickets to send home? Your concerns are totally unrealistic.

Make sure you do the right thing. The forum members have provided you the info. If you decide to ignore, it is your career and status at risk.

[sujit434]

Hi txh1b, Thanks for your time first of all. It is really helpful to have an insight of what is going in the H1 arena.

I really do not mean to say that I will be working in L1 even after I receive H1. I said since I find that is an option. I agree with you and many others here that it is illegal.

Here I go again,

I-797/I-94 received date on hand - on or before 1/18/11
H1B start date - 1/24/11

What ideally I need to on 1/18? If I resign leave L1 employer on 1/24/11, I will not be having the service certificate from L1 employer. If I continue with L1 emplyer, say until 1/31/11, I will be accumulating illegal employment. We may say service cert is not needed in US. But, it will be good to have especially if we need to go back to India in the future. Also, we would have huge PF money accumulated in India which we need to withdraw which again can be done only with the L1 emplyer's help.

Atlast, I feel that I need to take decisions based on what L1 employer say and the situation warrants at that time. I cannot see now itself about what I need to do at that time.

Legally speaking, it should be something like this,

I-797/I-94 received date - 1/18/11
L1 Resignation date - 1/18/11
L1 last working date - 1/23/11
L1 employer pays until 1/23/11 and gives the service cert.
H1 start data - 1/24/11
H1 joining date - 1/24/11
H1 employer starts to pay from 1/24/11.

However, I feel the above thing cannot happen in real. What you guys say? Somewhere or other, we might need to take hasty decisions to come out of this maze.
Your views?

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I am in the same boat now. What is the right solution for this situation?