portability of expired h1b

[ameyas7]

hi all,
my h1b petition was filed in the year of 2008 and i got h1b from 2008 - 2011 in india. however due to recession times, i did not get a chance to visit US and later on i moved to a different country. i am a software engineer by profession.
now that time has passed by and i am getting some US openings again, i wanted to evaluate the portability of my visa which got expired last year. i did not travel to US during this entire period.
i wanted to know if my current visa/ petition can still be utilized for speedy processing or do i need to go through the complete h1b filing process again?
any pointers in this direction are appreciated.
thanks.

-amey

[shervin143]

Any U.S employer can file a new H1B petition for you using the CAP from your previous H1B approval notice and request an immediate start date. You don't have to go through the quota again and you don't have to wait until Oct 1st to start. Give the new employer a copy of your previous H1B approval notice and they will know what to do.

[ameyas7]

thanks a lot shervin.
just wanted to know how much time frame in general are we talking about, since the new employer files petition transfer and i can travel and start working?

regards,
amey

[shervin143]

15 days by premium and 2-3 months by normal process. You cannot travel until you have a valid approved H1B petition from the employer and a valid H1B visa in the passport?

thanks a lot shervin.
just wanted to know how much time frame in general are we talking about, since the new employer files petition transfer and i can travel and start working?

regards,
amey

[ameyas7]

Cool thanks a lot. It's really useful info.