L1 to H4 After H1 Approved

[yourssinu]

Hi,

We have a urgent and difficult situation here. Any advise will help a lot.

My wife is on L1 visa and we applied for H1B (With I94 option) for 2013 Quota and H1 Petition got approved in May-2012. She can work on H1B from 01-Oct-2012.

Meanwhile (in June) can she file for COS from L1 to H4 (On Spouse's H1) and continue on H4 till October 1st and move to H1 automatically?

Due to some personal reasons she may need to leave present job (L1) and transfer to H4 status. What I want to know is will there be any problem to approved H1 petition? I know there is something called "Last Action Rule", according to this law latest approved status prevails all existing statuses. In this case does H4 prevails H1 as we are filing L1 to H4 after H1 got approved? or H1 still holds good as it's applied towards a future date and valid only from 01-Oct-2012?

Thanks
Srini

[kabkaba]

In her COS application, she should mention the end date as Sep 30. Also attach a cover letter requesting that end date in bold letters. USCIS may still ignore that date and approve H4 for a longer duration, if that happens she will have to change back to H1 before starting work.

[yourssinu]

Thanks for your reply...

In that case doe she needs to file one more COS in future from H4 to H1? or she can just start working on H1 from october without filing any paper work,

[kabkaba]

No, the already approved petition will take care of COS to H1.