J1 to H1b

What is the name of your state? Washington, DC

Can anyone tell me the process involved in going from a J1 Visa to an H1B. What forms do I need, how I go about doing this, cost and general time frame. I am not required to participate in the 2 year home residency requirement.

Thanks in advance!

if you are not subject to the 2-year home residency requirement and want to change your status to h-1B, you need to have a company sponsor you for the H-1B. Do you have a job offer from such a company? Is it for a position that requires at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent? Do you have a bachelor's degree or its equivalent in a related area of study?

Let me know if you have any additional questions. I have a lot of experience with business immigration, as that has been my practice for the past 6+ years.

Thanks,
Lana

Thanks for the info.

I am currently employed on a J-1 but do not wish to stay at this company, I do have a bachelor's degree and would like to stay here for at least the remainder of my program if not longer.

If I find an employer that will sponsor me what is the length of time it wil ltake and will me J-1 be revoked whil this is being processed? I can not have my employer know that I am doing this and can not be unemployed while this happens.

Thanks.

Your current employer would not have to know about it until you let him/her know, and you'd be able to change your status to H-1B once the new employer files a H-1B petition on your behalf and this petition is approved. Depending on how quickly you'd want to change employers, such a petition can be processed by the USCIS within 15 days. While it is being processed, you can continue working for your current employer pursuant to the J-1 and once approved for the H-1B, shift over to the new employer. This is all, of course, provided you do not have any contractual restrictions to leaving your current employer before the end of the J-1 term.

If you have any additional questions, please let me know.

Thanks for your help with this...

As far as i'm aware I do not have a contract and this is why I want to leave, the absence of a contract is enabling my current employer to take advantage of that fact!

If I understood you correctly, if I were to find an employer tomorrow who would hire me on an H1B Visa it would only take upto 15 days providing it all goes through with the USCIS. I just have a couple more questions, I promise! As my current employer is not my sponsor, can my sponsoring agency do anything to hinder this process? What costs are involved in this?

Thanks again!

Again, if there are no contracts with the employment agency, then you are free to change employers, provided the new employer files a new H-1B petition. And, yes, if the new H-1B petition is approved, you can theoretically change employment after about 2 weeks. This, of course, requires an additional filing fee by the employer for this Premium Processing service, but is definitely worthwhile if you want to change jobs ASAP. As for the employment agency making trouble for you, as long as there are no contractual provisions you would be breaking, they would not even have to know that you are having another employer sponsor you for a H-1B and would only find out about your plans once you announce to them that you are leaving this job.

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Do I need to do anything with regards to paper work, or is this all up to a potential new employer to file the petition on my behalf?

Also, do I need to worry about caps being placed on visas, does this affect my chances?

Hi, sorry about the late reply; I was out of town and did not have access to the internet. Your new employer would file all the papers on your behalf for the H-1b, and you do not file anything on your own; you simply provide the supporting documentation to the new employer or their attorney or your attorney (whoever is handling the paperwork on your behalf). However, if this is your first H-1B, then you are subject to the cap and the earliest you could start work in that status would be October 1, 2004, although the application can already be submitted to USCIS for review now (as of April 1, 2004). Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Thanks for your response, every time I think I have all my questions answered there always seems to be more around the next corner! As I cant go straight onto an H1B and i'm not particularly wanting to wait until October can I change sponsors whilst remaining on my J1 Visa until it is possible for me to transfer? Thanks.

I think that should be possible, legally. Practically speaking, I don't know if you'll find a willing sponsor who is participating in the J-1 program for such a short period of time.