L1-B Visa stamping when we go for H1B Stamping

Hi Team,

For me Company Y has sponsored H1-B visa in April-2015 and got my petition. I am having my L1-B with company X and travelled to USA in JUNE 2015 and currently i am in USA only, so basically my H1-B is not under COS and its a fresh one.

Now i would like to shift to company Y and so i would like to transfer onto H1-B, here are my queries:

  1. Do i need to go out of USA for Visa stamping now in order to activate my H1-B? If so can you please guide me on that?

  2. If stamping is mandatory, can i get it from Canada / Mexico or do i need to goto Home country?

  3. If i go for Visa Stamping, whether my L1-B will be cancelled irrespective of i get the H1-B stamping or Visa officer will cancel my L1-B stamping only if he grants a H1? Basically dont want to end up in a situation where in both L1-B and H-1B are not valid and can’t work in USA.

Thanks in advance.

  1. You have 2 options - go for H-1 stamping through Y and return on their approved visa and petition; or have Y file COS application for you. Once COS is approved, you will be considered on H-1 and not L-1

  2. Preferred to go to home country as this is your first H-1 stamping.

  3. I haven’t come across any experiences where L-1 was canceled when H-1 is denied. However, there is a good possibility that they will cancel L-1 visa stamp when approving H-1 visa stamp