H1B to F1

[Extranjero]

Hi,

I'm currently working under the H1B status and I'm planning on going back to school this Fall. Reading other related postings I have answered several of my questions, but I still have a few unanswered and would like to get some help:

1. It seems that the ideal situation is to have the start of school be close to the last day at the job. But, can I legally leave my job after I apply for the F1 visa? I understand it is a risk that I will be visa-less if denied, so if it is legal and I do this can it affect the processing center's decission to deny my F1 visa?

2. Can the start date of the F1 visa be before school starts? And if so, how long? One week, one month, etc? Can we choose the start date of the F1 visa?

3. Finally, may I leave the US while the decision is pending? Including Canada/Mexico?

Thank you in advance for any help anybody can give me.

 

[Thomas_Varghese]

i did my H1 to F1 visa transfer in 2005. My fall classes started in Sep and I applied for visa transfer in July mid.
When you apply for transfer, you just fil out the start date of the school. You dont have an option to ask for a specific date. Also, your I20 will mention the start date.
Ideally you can leave your job since the decision is made on your application. However I suggest you keep quiet till you get your visa approved. And the start date of school will be end date of your current job. (I am not 100 percent. But I worked till sep mid and got sal also). Till now no issues.

I assume you can leave country. But when you enter back, you will be entering in H1. And by that time, if your F1 is approved, your H1 becomes invalid. So there might be some issue at the port of entry. So I would suggest, you go and come back before you apply for F1. And once you get F1, complete a semester or so and go out of country and get visa stamping. I did this too recently. No issues.

 

[Extranjero]

Update

Thank you Thomas for your response. Here is some info I have found out, I hope it helps somebody. Any other opinions and experiences are also welcomed.

- The date of the F1 start date cannot be chosen, it depends on the start date of the program you will attend.

- Apparently there is a rule that says you can leave your job (and therefore your H1B) one month before starting school, but not more than a month before. This seems to be the rule, but some people have claimed they have left their job before this one month "grace period" and that did not affect their F1 approval.

- For leaving the country, this also seems to be somewhat unclear during an H1b to F1 transfer. I remember that during my transfer from OPT to H1b I could not leave until I received the decision (then I had to leave to get it stamped). But for an H1b to F1 this rule may not apply.