L1B to H1B to L1B

[kulhrishi]

I came to USA on L1B in Jan 2009 from Company X
In Jan 2010 I had a company Y file my H1B with a COS. and the petition got approved on March 01,2010.

I resigned from Company X immidiately to Join Y. But the 1st company i.e. X gave me a lucarative offer and I decided to stay back.
The company immigration told me that its ok to continue to work on the existing L1.

However people suggested that I leave the country and re-enter on the same L1 and be safe.

So I left for India after 3 weeks of my H1b Approval and reentered America again on the same L1 Visa.

Now I am filing my GC. Should these 3 weeks be a problem..? I trust my company however is it legal to stay in US after having an H1B with a COS ?
Lots of people say that till your payrole is not run in the new company it is absolutely ok to be in the existing company as you could have multiple companies filing your H1B at any given time...


Please Advise....

Regards

[shervin143]

The situation that you have mentioned in okay if you were already in H1B status and another company filed the H1B transfer. In that case, before the transfer and after the transfer you remain to be in H1B status. So you get the option to decide which company to work for. You can stay back with the old company if you wish.

However in your case, your previous status was L1. When the H1B got approved, your status changed to H1B and any employment with the L1 employer is illegal since you were no longer in L1 status at that time. You did the right thing by leaving the country and returning back in L1 visa which has put you back into L1 status.

Whether that 3 weeks of illegal employment will cause issues or not is nobodys guess.

[kulhrishi]

That's some good news...
Actually it was you who had recommended that I should leave the country and enter again and I followed your advice that time...

Thanks a lot for the same....

Now my next question is that what should I do incase USCIS ask's me about this..?
What is the severity of the mistake that I have committed unknowingly...

Do I have to take any steps or report to any place with all this so that my GC won't be in trouble..?
I have all legal documents including airline tickets, passport stamp etc saying that I left the country in 2 weeks after all this happened....

Please Advice....



Regards...

[shervin143]

There is nothing much you could do now. But since the duration is very less and you did take action to get back to L1 status, I don't think it will have any impact.

That's some good news...
Actually it was you who had recommended that I should leave the country and enter again and I followed your advice that time...

Thanks a lot for the same....

Now my next question is that what should I do incase USCIS ask's me about this..?
What is the severity of the mistake that I have committed unknowingly...

Do I have to take any steps or report to any place with all this so that my GC won't be in trouble..?
I have all legal documents including airline tickets, passport stamp etc saying that I left the country in 2 weeks after all this happened....

Please Advice....



Regards...