Opt to H1

J

jrg

New Member
I have completed my Master's in May2004. I am working in a company curently on my OPT. My OPT period is from June 1st 2004 to May 31st 2005.
Today is 5th Decemeber 2005. After seeing my performance my company is willing to sponsor me for H1 visa. They dont know any procedure of how to go about doing it.

My International Student Office at school suggested me that my companys lawer will be able to guide me.

But I want to know if my companys goes ahead and put an application as of today, what will be the further process? Will the application not get processed untill April 2005 when the next year's quota opens? Or is there any chance that being a Masters student the new bill which is about to be passed it could be processed before April?
Also is it a good idea that since my company is ready to sponsor today I should have them submit an application as soon as possible instead of waiting till April?

Please advice.
Thanks.
 
jrg said:
I have completed my Master's in May2004. I am working in a company curently on my OPT. My OPT period is from June 1st 2004 to May 31st 2005.
Today is 5th Decemeber 2005. After seeing my performance my company is willing to sponsor me for H1 visa. They dont know any procedure of how to go about doing it.

My International Student Office at school suggested me that my companys lawer will be able to guide me.

But I want to know if my companys goes ahead and put an application as of today, what will be the further process? Will the application not get processed untill April 2005 when the next year's quota opens? Or is there any chance that being a Masters student the new bill which is about to be passed it could be processed before April?
Also is it a good idea that since my company is ready to sponsor today I should have them submit an application as soon as possible instead of waiting till April?

Please advice.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

You can take advantage of the new Law (20,000 additinal visas for US Grads). It is not yet signed by president, but he expected to do so by Dec 8th, 2004. It will be effective after 90 days. Since you have OPT until June, 2005, you can file under this law as soon as they start accepting the applications.
 
If you go the U.S. immigration website http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/employment.htm
it tells you exactly from step one what will happen. Do not wait until the last minute because you might loose your status and then your situation becomes more complex. As your adviser said go ahead and visit an immigration attorney who can tell you what to do. It is really worth to pay for a lawyer since general people do not have all the information about the laws. Make sure the company really files your I-140 to the Labor Department but if you will have a lawyer he or she will must contact with your company so they can not hide that they did file or not.
 
Valika said:
If you go the U.S. immigration website http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/employment.htm
it tells you exactly from step one what will happen. Do not wait until the last minute because you might loose your status and then your situation becomes more complex. As your adviser said go ahead and visit an immigration attorney who can tell you what to do. It is really worth to pay for a lawyer since general people do not have all the information about the laws. Make sure the company really files your I-140 to the Labor Department but if you will have a lawyer he or she will must contact with your company so they can not hide that they did file or not.
Click to expand...


Thank you so much Valika, the information that you provided was really very helpful. I am going to take the next step and contact an immigration attorney and start the process.

Thanks again for your advice, I appreciate it.
 
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