Visiting Visa - Change of Status

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wizards

Registered Users (C)
Hi All:

I am a friend who is Permanent Resident of NewZealand and have been staying in NewZealand for 3 yrs.
He came to USA about a week back on Visiting Visa and he has the visa till October 30th.

During his stay in USA he came across few job oppurtunites and he was selected for one and they are ready to sponsor him and apply for his H1 provided he can start working immediately.

Can anyone please tell me whats the process he needs to follow to get his visa status changed from Visting to that of Employment Based Visa (probably H1 or any other work visa) ?

Your quick response is very much appreciated as it helps him to move things faster.

Thanks
 
Careful with this, if he tries to change his status that soon from 'visitor' to 'worker' they might infer that he came here as a visitor solely to look for work and therefore violated the terms of his visitors visa. (similar to getting married to a US citizen days after entering on a visitors visa doesn't look good)

He might be better off to have them apply for the H1, leave the country and re-enter on his H1 to circument that problem.

I assume your friend has a 4 year college degree.

Here are the steps his company has to take.

-- hire an immigration attorney (approx $1500 for H1b processing)

-- obtain a 'labor condition application' (atty does that, its free!!)

-- file a I129 petition for nonimmigrant worker ($165 I believe)

-- file for 'expedited processing' ($1000)

-- wait 3-4 wks of I129 approval.

And then:

-- leave US, go to US consulate obtain H1b stamp in passport.

-- re-enter on H1b, legally authorized to work

-- apply for SSN

-- start working


Or

-- file for change of status

-- wait for that to go through, get new I94card from CIS

-- apply for SSN

-- start working
 
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Thanks for quick reply

JoeF and Hardon,

Thanks for the quick reply.
Sorry that i didnt publish full details earlier...

Here are the full details
1) Candidate has bachelors and master degree
2) Candidate is a Citizen of India
3) Candidate is in NewZealand since 2001 and got his permanent residency in 2002
4) Candidate already has an H1 filed from the same employer (US Employer).
This was filed in 2003 and the candidate went to india (from newzealand) in 2003 on vacation and at the same time he attended the US embassy in india but he didnt get the visa. It was not a rejecttion though. Embassy told him that his case is pending and will let him know later.
Since he didnt had much vacation he had to rush back to NewZealand and he never heard from embassy since then.
5) Now my question is , since he already has H1 visa from last year can he re-use it for his employment now ?
If Yes, Can you please tell me the process to follow

If Not, Can you please tell if he can join any other employer and get this h1 transferred to the new Employer (if they are ready to take him/offer him a job) (Am not sure if this is possible but just wanted to check if he has any options which would let him start the work)

6) And also , would it help if he extends his Visiting visa and stay for few more months and then change the status ?

Please help....

Thanks a lot for all your help
 
> 1) Candidate has bachelors and master degree

So, he definitely qualifies for H1b.

> 3) Candidate is in NewZealand since 2001 and got his permanent
> residency in 2002

For an H1 that is not a problem. He should however be careful not to loose his NZ PR by staying out of the country too long.

> 4) Candidate already has an H1 filed from the same employer
> (US Employer).

Might be worthwhile to follow up on that I129. If it was pending last time he checked and if it got approved in the last 6 months he might be able to get his passport stamped based on it (or get a COS). I believe you have to start the job within 6 months after approval, otherwise it sort of expires.

> 6) And also , would it help if he extends his Visiting visa and stay for
> few more months and then change the status ?

Again, careful with extending visitors visas.
 
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Missing reply

Hi Hadron

I dont see the text in your previous reply. Can you please answer my questions ?

Thanks in advance.
 
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