L1B visa to H1B conversion

[Sudhish]

I am on L1B visa for company A, my visa expires in Feb 2020 (Final 5 years date considering my stay outside US is August 2020). My company A will file H1B in April 2019 and attorney asked me to choose consular or change of status. If I choose consular and suppose H1B gets approved by December 2019 that means we have to travel by Feb 2020 to activate H1B as my L1B is expiring in Feb 2020. My wife is not well and she might not be in a condition to travel to India for H1/H4 visa stamping by Feb 2020. My concern is that I had read that consular processing takes less time and change of status takes lot more time as compared to consular processing for L1 to H1 conversion. Is that true?

I don?t have too much time considering that my company A will file green card as soon as my H1B gets approved. I read change of status might take more than an year, if I do that, I won?t be able to get I-140 to stay longer than 6 years in total on H1B due to lack of time. My motive is to get H1B asap and initiate the green card asap. Below are my some queries:


1) Does anyone have any recent experience how long it takes generally for L1 to H1 on consular or change of status processing?
2) Are there more chances of approval if I go ahead with one than other?
3) Would I be able to change consular processing to change of status after consular processing petition approval? How long is that process of changing the processing type?

I would like to confirm this to attorney asap so I would appreciate if anyone with knowledge on my topic can respond to my queries.

[Libra_14]

I am on L1B visa for company A, my visa expires in Feb 2020 (Final 5 years date considering my stay outside US is August 2020). My company A will file H1B in April 2019 and attorney asked me to choose consular or change of status. If I choose consular and suppose H1B gets approved by December 2019 that means we have to travel by Feb 2020 to activate H1B as my L1B is expiring in Feb 2020. My wife is not well and she might not be in a condition to travel to India for H1/H4 visa stamping by Feb 2020. My concern is that I had read that consular processing takes less time and change of status takes lot more time as compared to consular processing for L1 to H1 conversion. Is that true?

I don?t have too much time considering that my company A will file green card as soon as my H1B gets approved. I read change of status might take more than an year, if I do that, I won?t be able to get I-140 to stay longer than 6 years in total on H1B due to lack of time. My motive is to get H1B asap and initiate the green card asap.

COS will take time, but you don't need to move out of country. You can stay in USA & continue your work for upto 240 days after expiry of your current I94.

1) Does anyone have any recent experience how long it takes generally for L1 to H1 on consular or change of status processing?

Not 100% sure, but I don't think you need to mention this before filing for H1 petition.

Once your H1 petition is approved, you can take the 797 to apply for COS within USA or Go outside USA to get the visa stamped & fly back to USA.

2) Are there more chances of approval if I go ahead with one than other?

No.

3) Would I be able to change consular processing to change of status after consular processing petition approval? How long is that process of changing the processing type?

Yes. should not be long.