Am I in Status?

[vigo]

Hi
I am in a very unique situation. Very few will probably have got into such a situation. The story goes like this.

I was working for company 'A' on H1B for about 18 months, and suddenly I got laid off in May 2002. I was asked to find another job as I was told that soon INS will be informed about my end of H1B.
And thankfully I found a company who was willing to process my H1B, say the company is 'B'. And the company 'B' filed for my H1B in June 2002 and later I got my receipt number. But meanwhile before I entered into their payrolls, I landed another good offer from company 'C' who also filed for my H1B transfer in July with Premium processing. When company 'C' filed for my H1B transfer it did not send any information to INS about company 'B' as I didn't even receive any receipt number by then. And soon my H1B transfer was processed in a week as it was premium processing. And I was on their payrolls. But again unfortunately I was laid off exactly in 32 days. And since this company 'C' being a big company they planned to inform INS about my H1B cancellation in less than 2 days.

Now since my H1B transfer through company 'B' is still pending, can I start working with this company 'B'. Or will I have to apply for a new H1B through the same company 'B'.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Vigo

 

[ucnair]

Your status is still legal as far as I can make out from your posting and ofcourse I am posting this reply assuming couple of things...
1 - Your H1 petition from company 'B' is still being processed.
2 - Date on your I-94 is sometime in future.

As long as the company 'B' has not withdrawn the petition made on your behalf and the petition is still in progress... you should be fine with working for company B.

The only issue with your status would be if the date specified on your I-94 is not valid - that is the date has passed. Even after H1 has been withdrawn, a H1 B visa holder can stay in US legally as long as the I-94 allows you to. ( This is the explanation I had got from one of my previous attorneys.. you might want to check with an attorney before coming to a conclusion).