USCIS Updates Policy Guidance for International Students

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance regarding the F and M student nonimmigrant classifications, including the agency’s role in adjudicating applications for employment authorization, change of status, extension of stay, and reinstatement of status for these students and their dependents in the United States.

Converting from B visa to any other status such as H-1B, etc.

Question details

I have a valid B-1 visa and have traveled to the US recently in April 2023. Now my H1B petition has been approved, and I am eligible for Dropbox. My employer is telling me that if my case does not get approved in Dropbox, he is asking me to travel on B1 and then get the status converted to H1B. In my I-129, it was mentioned as a change of status, as my I-94 was valid when my H1B was approved. I wanted to know if there will be any issues with coming to the US on B1 and changing the status if they call me for an interview in Dropbox. Also, I want to know if it is possible to switch employers with an approved H1B petition before getting my visa stamped. If I change the employer, will it have any issues?

 

Video URL
FAQ Transcript

I strongly recommend against attempting to convert B-1 status to H-1B without approval. Additionally, changing employers without visa stamping may pose challenges according to government guidelines. However, we have a successful track record of handling such cases in practice. Always consult a lawyer.

 

Converting from B visa to any other status such as H-1B, etc.

Question details

I have a valid B-1 visa and have traveled to the US recently in April 2023. Now my H1B petition has been approved, and I am eligible for Dropbox. My employer is telling me that if my case does not get approved in Dropbox, he is asking me to travel on B1 and then get the status converted to H1B. In my I-129, it was mentioned as a change of status, as my I-94 was valid when my H1B was approved. I wanted to know if there will be any issues with coming to the US on B1 and changing the status if they call me for an interview in Dropbox. Also, I want to know if it is possible to switch employers with an approved H1B petition before getting my visa stamped. If I change the employer, will it have any issues?

 

Video URL
FAQ Transcript

I strongly recommend against attempting to convert B-1 status to H-1B without approval. Additionally, changing employers without visa stamping may pose challenges according to government guidelines. However, we have a successful track record of handling such cases in practice. Always consult a lawyer.

 

Guestbook Entry for Pam M, United States

Name
Pam M
Country
United States
State
Virginia
Comment

I have known about Rajivji since last 25 years when his team had helped me with h1 and green card of mine and lots of my friends and relatives too. We were very happy and impressed then and I had always recommended his name when I came across any immigration help that others I knew had needed. I have been working for a start up as an HR for past few years and the employer needed help with filing H1 for one of his very crucial employee. The employer decided to hire a local attorney in CA and unfortunately, the H1 filed by them got denied. I then recommended Mr. Rajiv Khanna and his team as I knew only he could get the H1 approved for this employee. As expected, my employer and I both agreed Rajivji is the best immigration attorney we have ever dealt with.

Initially, the employer had hired an attorney who we felt that she did not do a thorough job of filing the employee's h1 and hence his visa got denied (the RFE response did not provide the details which were needed).

On my recommendation, my employer then decided to take Rajivji's help. Right from the first meeting, my employer, employee and I feel we have gotten an excellent service from the whole team. We are truly grateful for the detailed work that was done for the H1 which was approved once filed by the team - without any RFE. We thought the whole process was done with due diligence and very professionally - lot of efforts and time were put in and I could see all that in lot of back and forth that was done. The team made was always available to answer any questions (silly as well) and also was very punctual and prompt in doing so. The final file that was prepared was shared with us and we were very impressed with the contents and details of the file, how professionally it was put together. Rajivji would come on calls to ensure everything including even any grammatical mistakes etc. The overall experience we had was the BEST and we cannot be more grateful than this - I thank Rajivji and his team from the bottom of my heart for helping us out and for navigating us through in such crisis mode. We went back for the h1 extension recently and yes that got done smoothly too, it has been absolute pleasure to work with them, to be honest, I actually miss working with them, I even commented in my last meeting with them, that I hope my employer hires many more employees on H1 and that I get a chance to work with the team again and again, and I mean that.

We plan to go back to them for the GC soon because we know, there is no other better team than this, and we are very grateful to have known of them - Thank you Rajivji and the team - Looking forward to working with you soon!

USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2024 H-1B Cap

USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2024. 

USCIS will send non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts over the next few days. When USCIS finishes sending these non-selection notifications, the status for properly submitted registrations that USCIS did not select for the FY 2024 H-1B numerical allocations will show: 

Visa Bulletin For January 2024

Number 85
Volume X
Washington, D.C

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A. STATUTORY NUMBERS FOR PREFERENCE IMMIGRANT VISAS

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during January for: “Final Action Dates” and “Dates for Filing Applications,” indicating when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center.

Agency

Green Card

Immigration Law