H1 Amendment before stamping

Hi, I work for a top MNC in Bangalore. I have received my petition for Client X in Louisiana. Now the employer is asking me to go to Client Y in South Carolina. Since this is change is project and location both, definitely amendment is required, before I go for Visa stamping.

Here, my company’s immigration team comes into picture and says currently, as of today, amendments are not being done for 2015 approved petitions and they don’t know when amendments will start.

Can anybody know any update on whether amendments are started now or how long it is going to take? Does USCIS have any timeline for this or employers take decision on this? Nobody is giving me exact update on this.

PS: I have not gone for visa stamping yet.

Any response is highly appreciated.

Thanks.

I don’t know of any USCIS press release saying that amendments are being stopped on 2015 approved petitions. Why would they do that?

Amendments even before the resource is landed in US seems to be not done. Do you know anybody for whom amendments are in progress before visa stamping?

There are other folks asking question online about filing amendment for variety of issues and their attorneys have given go ahead. You can search on this Q&A forum or on the main blog about it.

I don’t know of any rule that stops employer to file for amendment before the beneficiary lands in US.

Hi,

I think false statement was given to you from your immigration team. The location change amendment came in to picture after April 9th 2015. You can file amendment anytime and USCIS will process the case. By Regular mode it takes 90-150 days and by premium mode 15- 20 Business days.

As per your statement above i believe your case is petition approved for H1 2016 and yet to get stamping done.In this case if you are travelling to a location beyond 50 miles from the approved petitions location you should file an amendment and get approval before appearing for stamping. USCIS time frames for processing mentioned above.

There is another type of case if we have a valid visa stamp and if there is a business need to travel different location above 50 miles then also the amendment comes in to picture. But in this type of case the amendment can be filed and then you can travel after getting the receipt notice. No need to wait for approval. You can track your amendment status in USCIS site.

Adding to that filing multiple amendments in parallel is also possible.

I believe this helps.

Have a Great Day

"There is another type of case if we have a valid visa stamp and if there is a business need to travel different location above 50 miles then also the amendment comes in to picture. But in this type of case the amendment can be filed and then you can travel after getting the receipt notice. No need to wait for approval. You can track your amendment status in USCIS site. "

Here I am guessing you said if I am for example in Bangalore currently with a recently approved petition with client A and I can first opt to go for stamping with this client itself (if everything goes well with stamping).Then I can simply apply for amendment to a client B and travel from Bangalore to client B location just with the receipt. Please let me know if my assumption is correct.