L1 visa to H1 B conversion

[kapubhatt]

hi All,

I have a friend who has Landed in US in Sep 12 with his family . Got to know that he would be moving out of the current project and would be deputed elsewhere. If he does get deputed in a months time, his employer has mandated that he with his family would need to travel back to India. To avoid the travel back,can he transfer his visa from L1 to H1 with another employer ?

[raghvi]

hi All,

I have a friend who has Landed in US in Sep 12 with his family . Got to know that he would be moving out of the current project and would be deputed elsewhere. If he does get deputed in a months time, his employer has mandated that he with his family would need to travel back to India. To avoid the travel back,can he transfer his visa from L1 to H1 with another employer ?

Thoush there is no such rule that he has to go out of US but on L1 one has to do as per the contract one has with the employer and if your friend's company has asked him to travel back to India he would have to do so. if your friend previously had an approved H1 in last 6 Years he can potentially transfer that H1 to another employer and resign from current employer. If not, the H1 for next year will open only on April 2013 and the start date cannot be earlier than 01 Oct 2013.

this is my opinion not legal advice.