One of our readers, Amit, was in a very interesting situation, where an employer filed H1B visa  for him 3 years ago, got it approved, but never gave the approval notice ( I-797) to him.  Amit’s new company applied for a H1B Visa transfer after 3 years, which was cap exempt, and got it approved. He never traveled to USA at least once before this visa transfer on H1B visa. Many of our readers have asked similar questions on the blog.  This is a real experience shared by Amit, which helps you all clarify the situation. Congrats to Amit as he is in US now! Thanks to him for taking time to write the article for us and helping many of our readers. We really appreciate his time. You can share your experience with our readers as well here or email to [email protected]

Background Info :

My first employer applied for H1B Visa about 3 years ago and got it was approved. I never traveled to USA on H1B Visa with that first H1B Visa approval. The first employer never gave me the H1B approval Notice, which is I-797 form.  I only knew my H1B Application Case number that was shared by my employer 3 years ago, I only had used that number to check my case status online at USCIS website.  I had to trust in good faith that the case number was mine and my previous employer did not cheat me.   I never traveled to US to work for that first employer before on H1B Visa and always stayed in India.

What is the H1B Visa Transfer Process from India with only Petition Number ?

All of the below process was done by my new employer’s attorney. You would have to work with attorney for this.

• A new H1B Cap-Exempt petition needs to be filed by the prospective employer for the same person, requesting USCIS to approve this Cap Exempt petition.
• A Letter to be directed to USCIS with below details.
  • Proper explanation of why we don’t have the old petition’s copy and approval notice (I-797 copy).
    • We mentioned the reason that previous employer did not provide these documents even after numerous follow-ups with them.
  • Requesting USCIS to use the receipt number to validate the date in their database.
• One can provide the affidavit mentioning whatever information provided is the best to the knowledge of the person for which petition was filed.

(Affidavit is very important as you are trying to file the petition with the best knowledge you have in good faith and not trying to cheat )

What are the Documents required for H1B Visa Transfer from India ?

• Copy of the H1B visa approval status of the old petition from USCIS website.
  • One can download the petition result by providing the receipt number at USCIS Case Status Online
• Affidavit with the details mentioned in Process section.
• Copy of any documents with the previous employer that has any relevance with the H1B petition.
  • I had provided the first employer’s offer letter that had the mention of H1B visa.
  • Any additional documents, emails from the official email ID of the employer would be of good supporting documentation.

What are the Risks involved with H1B Transfer without Approval Notice copy ?

As receipt number of the old petition is the most critical information in the whole process, and as far as I know there is no way (known to me) to validate the receipt number relevance to any person. Hence, one needs to be pretty sure about the receipt number (provided by the ex- employer) of the old petition that it belongs to the same person, so that USCIS should get an impression of any wrongdoing in this processing.

How did I file  : Regular or Premium ? How many days ?

•  I went to the USCIS Case Status Online portal and used the original receipt number of approved H1B petition, which was filed by my first employer on behalf of me and downloaded the approved petition result as PDF. It was attached as part of my new H1B Transfer application.
• It was a premium processing for my case, and USCIS approved the petition within a week or so without any RFE or other communication. It was very straightforward.
•  All this happened when I was in India.

What Happened at H1B Visa Stamping ? US Port of Entry (PoE) ?

• No special questions during H1B Visa stamping. Person asked me about the salary and work location.
• No questions at US Port of entry (PoE).
• I successfully entered USA on new H1B visa approval notice filed by my new employer

Were you in similar situation ?  What was your experience ?

Share your thoughts ? Any other advice that I missed ?

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