J2 to H1B (not subject to 2-year home-residency rule)

kga1978

New Member
Hi all,

I am on a J1 visa sponsored by Harvard University. My wife is a dependent on J2 (with work permit) and is working at Harvard as well (as a project coordinator). We both have degrees from the UK that we completed before coming here - she has a masters and I have a PhD. I am Danish and she is Finnish.

Our visas will expire in about a year so we are looking into other visa options. Specifically my wife has been told by her department that they will sponsor her a H1B but we need to tell them what is required. I would greatly appreciate if somebody could please help me out with the following questions:

1. Is it pretty straight-forward to change from J2 to H1B when not subject to the 2-year home residency rule?
2. How long will processing take?
3. Will my wife be able to keep working through the entire process?
4. Will we need to hire a lawyer or can we handle this ourselves?
5. What documents will need to be filed?
6. Anything else I should know?

Thanks so much for your help.
 
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