When is an H-1B amendment required?

Question details

I am on H-1B visa and my 9th year H-1B approval will expire on 09/01/2017. This approval is when I was working at client A and from 09/19/2016 , I am working at client B but my employer checked with Lawyer and she is saying no need to file amendment as it is in same MSA. Is that ok? and my wife she on H-4 with EAD she wants to travel to india and She has to go for stamping so since my H-1B amendment is not filed do you see any issues for her H-4 stamping ? Is it safe to travel ?

ANSWER

Watch Video on this FAQ: When is an H-1B amendment required?

Video Transcript:

USCIS has given us a relatively an incomplete memorandum that currently says this: if an employee relocates within the same geographical area,  which is a normal commuting distance of an approved location they do not have to file a H-1B amendment. This is not a complete story. The memorandum is misleading and we have been advising our clients to work according to my suggestions and not depend on the memorandum. 

First of all, even if you go by the language of the memorandum, remember USCIS and the Department of Labor have different regulations so just because the memo talks about the USCIS regulations does not mean you have complied with the Department of Labor regulations for change of job locations. Department of Labor says, any new location even if it is in the same building you must post the LCA notice there, at the very least. So even if you are moving within the same area LCA notice should be posted.

The second way this memorandum is misleading is: what if I change jobs next door, but my job description changes completely? You will have to file H-1B amendment even though it is the same neighborhood.

What if my client changes and what if my project changes. I think in all those situations, the conservative thing to do is to file an H-1B amendment. More..

Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.

FAQ Transcript





Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.

Nonimmigrant Visas