Maintain L1 Status after H1B approval later than 1st of October.

[sakhtar]

Hi,

Currently i am in L1 Status and i applied for H1B from a different consultant.
I have got selected in this year H1b Lottery.

Now i don't want to change my status on H1B.

Initially i thought i will go outside on 30th of sept and come back on 2nd of Oct on L1 Visa so that COS will not happen.

But since i got an H1B RFE i am not sure how long is it going to take for the approval.

My question is if my H1B approval comes on lets say November 1st 2015.

Can i still maintain my L1 status going outside the country on 2nd of Nov and coming back on 3rd of Nov on L1 Visa and work for the same existing company.

What are the other ways i can still maintain my L1 status in this situation?

My consultant is not aggreeing to revoke my H1

What are the consequences i can face in this situation?

My L1 Visa is approved till 2016.

You response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks for your help in advance.

[raghvi]

Hi,

Currently i am in L1 Status and i applied for H1B from a different consultant.
I have got selected in this year H1b Lottery.

Now i don't want to change my status on H1B.

Initially i thought i will go outside on 30th of sept and come back on 2nd of Oct on L1 Visa so that COS will not happen.

But since i got an H1B RFE i am not sure how long is it going to take for the approval.

My question is if my H1B approval comes on lets say November 1st 2015.

Can i still maintain my L1 status going outside the country on 2nd of Nov and coming back on 3rd of Nov on L1 Visa and work for the same existing company.

What are the other ways i can still maintain my L1 status in this situation?

My consultant is not aggreeing to revoke my H1

What are the consequences i can face in this situation?

My L1 Visa is approved till 2016.

You response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks for your help in advance.

In order for you to continue working with L1 employer, you have nullify the COS. Employment with L1 employer while H1 COS to another employer is approved and effective is illegal. There are few ways to do it but none is fool proof.

1. Ask employer to withdraw the COS.
2. Leave before COS approval while it is still pending, USCIS typically should deny the COS because you left while it was pending, but sometimes they would approve it otherwise too. Putting you back in H1 status in their records.
3. Travel out of US before COS is approved, and return after COS is effective. This method is probably the best way of doing so, but the challenge is, in cases such as yours, you do not know when the COS will be effective as your H1 is in RFE, so beyond 01-Oct-2015 if USCIS approves your COS it would be effective immediately and if you still n US at that time should stop working with L1 with immediate effect otherwise risk of going out of status.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[sakhtar]

Hi,

Currently i am in L1 Status and i applied for H1B from a different consultant.
I have got selected in this year H1b Lottery.

Now i don't want to change my status on H1B.

Initially i thought i will go outside on 30th of sept and come back on 2nd of Oct on L1 Visa so that COS will not happen.

But since i got an H1B RFE i am not sure how long is it going to take for the approval.

My question is if my H1B approval comes on lets say November 1st 2015.

Can i still maintain my L1 status going outside the country on 2nd of Nov and coming back on 3rd of Nov on L1 Visa and work for the same existing company.

What are the other ways i can still maintain my L1 status in this situation?

My consultant is not aggreeing to revoke my H1

What are the consequences i can face in this situation?

My L1 Visa is approved till 2016.

You response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Hi,

Thanks a lot for this advice.
I have a follow up question on this.

Lets say my H1B got approved on Oct 15th and i am still in US.
So can i go outside and comeback on L1 again within a day or two?
I want to change my L1 status back.

[raghvi]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for this advice.
I have a follow up question on this.

Lets say my H1B got approved on Oct 15th and i am still in US.
So can i go outside and comeback on L1 again within a day or two?
I want to change my L1 status back.

Yes you can if you have a valid L1 visa in the passport.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[hara]

Hi I have similar case. Could you please help in this.

I am on L1 from A and my L1 I-94 is expiring in November, 2015. My company(A) applying for extension mostly through premium during first week of November.
I have applied for H1(CoS) through company B this year and it received RFE on July, 18th. Company B is planning to respond to RFE in October.
Due to some reasons I am planning to continue to work for company A.
1. If both H1 RFE and L1 extension goes to USCIS at same will there be any issue?
2. If my H1 approves before L1 extension, and if I want to continue to work for my L1 employer what should I do?
3. If my L1 extension approves before H1 and H1 approves later, what should I do to continue work for my L1 employer?
4. If I go out of country on October 1st and reenter through my existing L1 with new I-94, will there be any possibility to continue on my L1 employer without any issue?

Appreciate your responses.

[hara]

Maintain L1 Status after H1B approval later than 1st of October

Yes you can if you have a valid L1 visa in the passport.

"This is my opinion not legal advice.

"

Hi, is it possible to request for consular processing while respond to RFE, even though consular processing did not request during application submission.

[raghvi]

"

Hi, is it possible to request for consular processing while respond to RFE, even though consular processing did not request during application submission.

Yes the employer can, but if you request employer to do so, it would mean that you not interested to join the H1 employer immediately. Can't say how the H1 employer would take that.

As with regards to previous questions:

1. If both H1 RFE and L1 extension goes to USCIS at same will there be any issue?
---Its never advisable to have two parallel requests to USCIS. The reason being, you never know which one would get processed earlier, and eventually end up with lot of confusion.
2. If my H1 approves before L1 extension, and if I want to continue to work for my L1 employer what should I do?
---Leave US before H1 approval, and return back on your L1 visa. The challenge is that your L1 visa in the passport is valid only till Nov 2015, so you most probably will get I-94 only till then.
3. If my L1 extension approves before H1 and H1 approves later, what should I do to continue work for my L1 employer?
---Same thing, leave US before H1 approval, and return back on your L1 visa. The challenge is that your L1 visa in the passport is valid only till Nov 2015, so you most probably will get I-94 only till then.
4. If I go out of country on October 1st and reenter through my existing L1 with new I-94, will there be any possibility to continue on my L1 employer without any issue?
---Technically the H1 COS request should get abandoned because you would be traveling while it is pending.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[johnnyhero2]

L1 B to H1b conversation after traveling to out of country

I am currently employed with Company A on L1B visa since Apr 2013. They would allow me to work in US on L1 untill March 2016.

I have following questions :
1. My L1B to H1B (COS)(cap exampeted unused H1) is approved for next 3yrs..starting from OCT1st I will be on H1B but I want to be on L1B
since i havent started job search yet.

2.Can I go out of country and comeback on OCT 2rd or 3rd ..so that i will be on L1B.

But my questions is how I can go back to H1B again ..is it easy ? does H1b employer just to need file Amendment and LCA?
or is it a tuff process again like File H1b?

[hara]

Maintain L1 Status after H1 filing

Yes the employer can, but if you request employer to do so, it would mean that you not interested to join the H1 employer immediately. Can't say how the H1 employer would take that.

As with regards to previous questions:

1. If both H1 RFE and L1 extension goes to USCIS at same will there be any issue?
---Its never advisable to have two parallel requests to USCIS. The reason being, you never know which one would get processed earlier, and eventually end up with lot of confusion.
2. If my H1 approves before L1 extension, and if I want to continue to work for my L1 employer what should I do?
---Leave US before H1 approval, and return back on your L1 visa. The challenge is that your L1 visa in the passport is valid only till Nov 2015, so you most probably will get I-94 only till then.
3. If my L1 extension approves before H1 and H1 approves later, what should I do to continue work for my L1 employer?
---Same thing, leave US before H1 approval, and return back on your L1 visa. The challenge is that your L1 visa in the passport is valid only till Nov 2015, so you most probably will get I-94 only till then.
4. If I go out of country on October 1st and reenter through my existing L1 with new I-94, will there be any possibility to continue on my L1 employer without any issue?
---Technically the H1 COS request should get abandoned because you would be traveling while it is pending.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thank you for your response. You said to maintain L1 while H1 RFE in pending, leave US before H1 approval and return back on L1 VISA. Can I leave US before October 1st or should I have to leave only on or after October 1st. Because I heard that H1 will come into effect only on or after October 1st only.

[raghvi]

Thank you for your response. You said to maintain L1 while H1 RFE in pending, leave US before H1 approval and return back on L1 VISA. Can I leave US before October 1st or should I have to leave only on or after October 1st. Because I heard that H1 will come into effect only on or after October 1st only.

Your H1 is currently under RFE so it does not matter when you leave. But do leave before H1 is approved.

Technically a COS is considered abandoned if one leaves while it is pending. But do remember this is not a fool proof solution as USCIS has known to sometimes, in rare scenarios, erroneously approve a COS even when a person travels outside US while COS is pending. But you can at least keep your part of records clean by traveling before COS approval.

Ideal would have been to have your H1 employer do the COS as premium processing and having got the approval before 01-Oct-2015 and then you leaving before 01-Oct-2015, but I guess you are already beyond that possibility as we are around only 1 week away from 01-Oct-2015.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[hara]

Maintain L1 Status after H1B approval later than 1st of October.

Your H1 is currently under RFE so it does not matter when you leave. But do leave before H1 is approved.

Technically a COS is considered abandoned if one leaves while it is pending. But do remember this is not a fool proof solution as USCIS has known to sometimes, in rare scenarios, erroneously approve a COS even when a person travels outside US while COS is pending. But you can at least keep your part of records clean by traveling before COS approval.

Ideal would have been to have your H1 employer do the COS as premium processing and having got the approval before 01-Oct-2015 and then you leaving before 01-Oct-2015, but I guess you are already beyond that possibility as we are around only 1 week away from 01-Oct-2015.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thank you for your response. I left and reenter country as per your suggestion, I haven't informed to H1 employer about by exit and reentry. H1 employer is planning to respond for RFE now and as part of RFE response, employer is asking for all entry and exit dates. Should I have to mention the latest exit and re-entry dates with him. If I provide the dates will COS approves? I don't want COS to be approved, as my L1 employer also applying for extension now and I want to continue with my L1 employer for some more months. Could you please provide any suggestions.

[raghvi]

Thank you for your response. I left and reenter country as per your suggestion, I haven't informed to H1 employer about by exit and reentry. H1 employer is planning to respond for RFE now and as part of RFE response, employer is asking for all entry and exit dates. Should I have to mention the latest exit and re-entry dates with him. If I provide the dates will COS approves? I don't want COS to be approved, as my L1 employer also applying for extension now and I want to continue with my L1 employer for some more months. Could you please provide any suggestions.

Yes you do have to mention the latest entry and exit dates. They are also available online if one knows your passport, name and DOB, do not hide it from employer.

I doubt the COS would get approved as USCIS will typically see that you left while the COS was pending.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[hara]

Maintain L1 Status after H1B approval later than 1st of October.

Yes you do have to mention the latest entry and exit dates. They are also available online if one knows your passport, name and DOB, do not hide it from employer.

I doubt the COS would get approved as USCIS will typically see that you left while the COS was pending.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thank you for your advise. I traveled out of country in September and return on september 30 with new I94 and applied for L1 extension with new I-94. My L1 extension got approved. But I don't have VISA in passport it is I-94 extension. But my H1 employer also replied for RFE in October and it is still "Request for evidence received" status. Can you please tell what can I do to continue work with my current L1 employer.