my employer is filing the H1B petition for me. can someone help me with which route to take- consular processing or change of status(COS). pls answer this keeping in mind the following- if my H1B is picked, i want to switch my company as soon as possible. if i go for COS, h1b kicks in on oct1st; in this case would companies interview me (without asking me to go to India and get the h1b stamped) and then the interviewing company would get my h1b transferred or would they ask me to go get h1b stamped first and only then take the case forward. say, if it interviews(without asking me to get my h1b stamped) amd then gets my h1b transferred from the existing employer, would i face any issue when i go back to India to get it stamped(because the original H1B was done by my previous employer which I will have left by then) Same question in case of consular processing? kindly clarify.
You don't need stamping in order to apply for a transfer. You are not going to be asked to get stamping first. It would just be a waste of time to do it now if you were planning on doing it later. You can use any currently valid petition when you apply for a visa. You can't get a visa based on a pending transfer. Once the transfer is approved, the new petition will be just as valid as the old one was, so you won't have any problem using it for stamping. IMO the best strategy is to apply for COS now, stay long enough to get a couple of paychecks from the new company in H-1B status, then ask the new employer to file a consular petition in premium processing. When it's approved, then you can quit your current job and go for stamping. This avoids the need to take any time off for stamping - you'll be doing it between jobs.
Thank you so much for your response. A question from your last paragraph- you are asking me to stay long enough to get a couple of paychecks from the ‘new’ company in h1b status and quit my current job when the consular petition by the mew company is approved. This means i stay in 2 companies for a period simultaneoulsy- how is this possible. Correct me if i comprehended incorrectly. Thanks.
Sorry, my fault. I meant you should get paychecks from the current company (the one that's sponsoring your H-1B right now).
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