J1, EAD and transfer to H1B

R

repo

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I am working in one of the national labs as a NRC fellow for the last 14 months. And I am on J1 visa and my wife has a J2 visa and EAD. She is also employed in a private firm on the basis of her EAD and our visas will be expiring in 8 months (by September, 2009). Also, I have been offered a "permanent" position in the same lab and need to change to H1B when the appointment is made (they are willing to do it anytime after June). Also, there is a chance that my lab might take up the waiver application through "interested government agencies" channel.

I know some of you have gone through this process before and may be willing to help newbies. I have some question regarding the whole process and any help is highly appreciated.

1. If J1 waiver is granted, does it automatically cancel my wife's EAD or can she keep working until we apply for the H1B/H4B?

2. And if my wife is eligible to keep her EAD even after the J1 waiver, when does it actually get canceled, by the date of H1B/H4B application or date of its approval?

3. What happens after the J1 waiver is granted, do I have to apply for the H1B visa immediately or can I wait until JulyAugust (since J1 visa is expiring by Sept.)?

We welcome any suggestions and answers to these questions. Please feel free to ask for any additional information that may be required. Thank you all for your precious time.
 
repo said:
Hi,

I am working in one of the national labs as a NRC fellow for the last 14 months. And I am on J1 visa and my wife has a J2 visa and EAD. She is also employed in a private firm on the basis of her EAD and our visas will be expiring in 8 months (by September, 2009). Also, I have been offered a "permanent" position in the same lab and need to change to H1B when the appointment is made (they are willing to do it anytime after June). Also, there is a chance that my lab might take up the waiver application through "interested government agencies" channel.

I know some of you have gone through this process before and may be willing to help newbies. I have some question regarding the whole process and any help is highly appreciated.

1. If J1 waiver is granted, does it automatically cancel my wife's EAD or can she keep working until we apply for the H1B/H4B? Waiver granted or denied will not affect the J1 or J2 including the EAD till its expiration date.

2. And if my wife is eligible to keep her EAD even after the J1 waiver, when does it actually get canceled, by the date of H1B/H4B application or date of its approval? Date of approval, has nothing to do with application date. and if the H1/H4 stuck pending past the last day of the J, you will have one month grace perioid to leave the US after which you will be out of status, the application or the pending status for H will not give you any status or protection, the approval is

3. What happens after the J1 waiver is granted, do I have to apply for the H1B visa immediately or can I wait until JulyAugust (since J1 visa is expiring by Sept.)? The waiver if granted as I said has nothing to do with the exoiration date of the J, you can apply for H or not, up to you. The point is to give yourself plenty of time, the H is time consuming and a lot of paper work, you can even start working on it from today and when yu get the waiver (or even the favorable recommendation from the departmment of State) you send the prepared package to USCIS. To specifically address you question, it is not required to apoply for H immediately after you get the waiver.

We welcome any suggestions and answers to these questions. Please feel free to ask for any additional information that may be required. Thank you all for your precious time.
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Thank you so much for the reply. Really appreciate your help and it was very helpful. However, we have decided to extend our J1 status and that will give us more time to decide our course of action. Thank you again.
 
J1 waiver with US dept of state

Dear Friends,

I am a Postdoc from a Nationa Lab seeking information about the waiver.
I have got the three No Obligation to Return to India/waivers(from MHRD, Home Dept and Passport office) and am about to apply for a case number with US Dept of state for onward processing and getting the final waiver. I read in the FAQ of the US Dept of State website on Waivers that: the waiver is generally denied if the applicant recieved US Govt funding for the Postdoc project. Is it the case? How often US Dept of state give or deny the waiver for postdocs from US National Labs? Whether anybody has such experience?

Thanks,
S. Sankar
 
J-1 waiver

Dear Sankar,
Just saw your thread, and was wondering did you get J-1 waiver? I received this prestigious NRC fellow award, and they will sponsor J-1 visa. I am bit skeptical to go for that. I have other postdoc offers where I will have get H1-b sponsorship. But I don't feel like missing this very prestigious fellowship. If you can, please reply. I would really appreciate any feedback/suggestions
 
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