H1B Approved, stamped in 2015; Not travelled yet; How long can I stay in US if I travel now.

Thank You redbus2us for giving us a nice platform to get answer to our visa related question.

My question is related to the max duration for which I can stay in US if my H1B is 1.6 years old and I didn’t travel so far,

In other words, I got approval for my H1B from company xxx in Oct 2015, but due to some personal issue I couldn’t travel so far. (However I went for visa stamping in India on Nov 2015). Now I have got an offer from compnay yyy and they are ready to transfer my H1B and for my travel. My questions are

  1. If company yyy get the visa transferred in next 2 months and send me to US by June 2017 (first travel on H1B), Do I need to go again for stamping?

  2. If I travel first time on this transferred visa in June 2017, How long can I stay in US (Maximum duration), provided I haven’t traveled yet on this H1B even though I got my visa approval and stamping in Oct 2015.

Thanks!

Terry (from India).

  1. No stamping required as long as the previous visa stamp has not expired and is still valid. When entering US let PoE know who your actual employer is; else they may consider company mentioned in your visa stamp as H-1B employer.

  2. You can stay for up to 6 years on H-1B inside US. The clock starts after you enter US.

Thank You Saurabh for your reply!