In January 2017, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) published final rule became effective providing benefits to many highly skilled nonimmigrant workers and those workers with immigrant employment-based cases (Forms I-140) in the EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 categories. One of the benefits of this rule was to grant up to a 60-day grace period to laid off H-1B, E, L and O nonimmigrant workers so that they could try to find H-1B or other employment or other ways to remain in the country in lawful status.
Recently, I was contacted by a foreign national who was laid off by her H-1B employer and she filed an I-539 to change her status from H-1B to H-4 during the 60-day period. She now has a new offer of H-1B employment. The new employer would not be able to file the H-1B petition until after the 60-day grace period and she wants to know if she is eligible for a change of employer H-1B petition so that she will not have to depart the US to restart in H-1B status. Under the new rule, she cannot obtain a change of employer petition in the US, but she does have other options, which are as follows:
1) File the H-1B petition for consular processing, meaning that she will have to depart and reenter the US. She would not need a new H-1B visa if she has current H-1B visa that will be valid when she wants to reenter.
2) Wait until the I-539 application to change her status to H-4 is approved. Then, the employer could file the H-1B petition for her to change her status from H-4 to H-1B in the US and she would have to wait for the new H-1B petition to be approved before she could start working in H-1B status.
If USCIS starts approving H-1B petitions quickly, even without premium processing, which has been temporarily suspended, then she may be able to work sooner than later. Just yesterday I received an H-1B extension petition approval that USCIS processed in 29 days.