r/h1b

So last year on the 28th of march, i visited India for a vacation and on the 2nd of april i was informed that my F1 visa was revoked due to a traffic violation - "Exhibition of speed" in Arizona (Ticket from 2023). I had no option but to stay back in India. Then the supreme court decided to reinstate all the SEVIS status but since i still didnt have a visa, i couldnt travel back.

My company are really nice people and they offered to file H1-B for me because by the time i came i had already been picked in the lottery. But it took 11 months for my petition to get approved and finally i recieved my approval letter. My boss is really happy to have me back and I wanted to know if anyone had faced a similar situation or if someone has any advice for me.

Thank you.

Hello all. Yesterday I received an unwanted news. My PERM got denied. Filed on 2/18/2025, denied on 5/19/2026. My 6-year H-1B ends on 9/30/2027. What are my possible options? Anybody else in the same boat? Would really appreciate the community’s insight. TIA!

The denial reason:

“Pursuant to 20 CFR § 656.17(a)(1), incomplete applications will be denied. The instructions for Section F.c of the Form ETA-9089 state that if the job opportunity requires roving, travel or possible relocation, to indicate “various worksites,” in Section F.c.1.  Section F.c.1. of the Form ETA-9089 “is blank”; indicating that travel is not required.  On the Form ETA-9141, however, the employer indicated that there is a travel requirement in Section F.d.3 and provided further detail in the Addendum for Section F.d.3.a stating: "The occupation requires visiting client (project) sites about 10% of the year, an average of 2 days per month. The client/project sites are typically within a 2-hour driving distance of -X-. No international travel or domestic air travel is anticipated."** **The contents of a completed Form ETA-9089 dictate the expectations for the advertising requirements under 20 CFR § 656.17(f), which must include travel if it is required. Provided that the Form ETA-9141 was completed stating travel, however, the Form ETA-9089 did not and is considered incomplete.  
 
Based on the foregoing, the instant application is incomplete and therefore denied.
 
DENIAL AUTHORITY: Pursuant to 20 CFR § 656.17(a)(1), an employer who desires to apply for a labor certification on behalf of an alien must file a completed Department of Labor Application for Permanent Employment Certification form (Form ETA-9089). The application must be filed with an ETA application processing center. Incomplete applications will be denied.”

Has anyone tried leaving the US, reentering on B2 and switching back to H1B?

I've been seeing a lot of posts of people that got laid off and finding difficulty with filing COS from H1B to B2 to eventually get back on H1B. All cases I've seen is as a result of B2 VISA remaining pending at the time of filing a COS to H1B.

Does anyone know about leaving the US for a few months and coming back on a B2 VISA, getting a job and switching back to H1B?

I've personally heard one success case with this but haven't seen this in any forum.

Hello,

Just wanted to give y'all an update on my initial H1B timeline

Petition received: May 15

Petition Approved: May 20

Center: Mailed the package to Elgin IL but in the email my attorney received, it showed Texas Service Center approved my I-129

Still waiting for the package to be mailed to me tho

Hope it helps

Got laid off from Meta today. My H1B will be withdrawn soon, still no PERM filed, and honestly I have no idea what to do next.

I have a $300k offer on the table, but the immigration situation is making everything complicated and stressful.

Serious question: how do people even find someone for GC marriage? Agencies? Communities? I genuinely don’t know where to start.

Would appreciate advice from anyone who’s been through this.

Anyone filed h1b around May 13th with pp? Have you receive receipt number? I have not yet received

Situation: (1st time H4 Visa Stamping)
H4 Biometric: May 12th
H4 Consular: June 5th
Applying from India

I completed my biometric/ofc/vac appointment on May 12. After that my husband's I-797 has changed. Do I just show up with the updated DS-160 and old DS-160 on day of Consulate Appointment?

I am in this situation and awaiting an update from USCIS after submitting RFE response. Its been 8 days since the status changed to “clock stopped” and not sure what to expect. I would really appreciate if anyone who went through this visa situation share the outcomes.

Hi All, my current H1B visa stamping is up until August 2026. My company applied for renewal and the new 1797 is from Aug 2026-2029. I am planning to travel to India in June 2026. I was wondering if it's possible to get a new visa stamp before the current one expires. I will be back to the US around end of June but will the new stamp only be valid from August 2026? Will they cancel the old Visa stamp and will I not be able to return to the US until August 2026? Any help appreciated here.

Hi all, I took the interview on 20th May, officer took my passport and gave 221g white slip, initially status showed refused, after some time status changed to administrative processing. How long it will take to complete the process??

Can some one help me, I am very much worried.

Hi,

I have a question regarding the possibility of rolling over the application fees for DS-160 for a new application made after the 365 day window. Let's say I book a slot using my current DS-160 number within the 365 day window but the appointment is after that 1 year duration. My h1b will be up for renewal again during this period. Can I start a new application after the 365 day window with a new DS-160 number and roll over the fees to that application since I never used the original slot?

Thanks in advance!

Tomorrow at 3:30 AM?!🥺

2022: H1B, filed perm, layoff

2023: filed perm again, waited 9 months

Nov 2025: labor market test failed. Cool down 6 months.

May 2026: second perm attempt. My lawyer requested a new job description and I have no legal knowledge and I am afraid I will fail again. My previous experience was software engineer for cloud/devops. I am really scared and I will fail again and I will never be able to file Perm because my H1B expires in 2028.

1. How can I draft a good job description for the labor market test to ensure it showcase my ability?

2. Is it enough time to file Perm?

3. Is it my lawyer fault that I fail at this very first step? Should I ask for different law firm?

4. How does big companies handle this step? I am sure many people apply to big tech but my friends still pass labor market test.

Hi, as the title says, I was laid off while on H-1B cap exempt status. What’s my best bet for finding a job in a few months? Also, my country is part of the partially banned list, so when I do find a new employer, how will that affect me working for them?

I barely used 2 months of my H1B time. Got trapped in this B-2 denial nonsense and was forced to leave. Getting a job from outside US was difficult as it is and is now next to impossible because of this $100k nonsense.
For context, I know someone posted that people who are outside and have a valid visa stamp are getting approved without the fee, but my B-2 got denied on May 6 and received H1B RFE same day demanding $100k. Lawyer advised the company to not move forward and they rescinded my offer. I kept saying I have a valid stamp until end of 2027 but it felt on deaf ears, the lawyer said USCIS can very well see that.

My H1B registration was filed under wage level L4 whereas it should have been filed under L1 by the lawyer. Due to it being filed in L4, it got selected in lottery. I had no idea about this until the law firm came back today and updated me that they cannot proceed ahead with filing because of this huge mistake that they made. Given the scenario, what are my options now?

Graduated May 2025, started working June 2025 on OPT. My H-1B petition was selected in the lottery and was set to take effect October 2026. Got laid off yesterday out of nowhere.

My EAD expires in about a month.

- I know F-1/OPT has a 60-day grace period after job loss. Does the clock start from yesterday, or from my last day on payroll? Does it matter that my EAD is expiring soon?

- My petition is processing with a future start date. Does the layoff affect the petition itself, or does it just mean the new employer needs to file a new one?

– With ~1 month left on the EAD and a 60-day grace period, what's the realistic window to get something in place?

Throwaway account. Trying to think this through and would love takes from people who've been in similar spots.

The setup

• I'm Indian, 31, based in Chennai.
• Won the H-1B lottery last cycle, before the Trump $100k fee kicked in.
• Got an approved I-797B from a US company that filed for me. Valid until September 2028.
• Never actually worked for that company. Long story, didn't take the role.
• For the last 6 months I've been at an Indian services company on 40 LPA, working on a US Fortune-500 client account.
• My current company has a US entity. They want to fly me onsite for about a month to help push on the client delivery. I have a B1/B2 valid till 2029 so they're planning to use that.

What's pulling me toward the US long term

I'm 31. Tech and AI is happening in the US in a way it just isn't anywhere else right now. I follow Tesla, SpaceX, the AI labs, all of it. Want to be closer to that gravity, not watching from Chennai.

The other piece: my wife is Swedish, born in Germany. From what I understand, if we go the green card route through me, her German birth gives us cross-chargeability and the EB-2/EB-3 backlog basically disappears (India is 15-20 years, Germany is current or close to it). That's a massive unlock if I'm reading it right.

My question

What's the smartest way to play the cap-exempt petition?

I know I'm sitting on something valuable. Cleared the lottery before the rules got brutal, before the $100k fee, before the wage-weighted selection coming in next cycle. Most Indians I know are getting destroyed by the new system. I have a working option that expires in September 2028 if I don't use it.

But:

• The petition is tied to a company I haven't worked for.
• My current company doesn't know I'm cap-exempt yet.
• If my current company's US entity files a new cap-exempt petition for me, I'd probably still owe the $100k fee since I'm in India and would need consular processing. So even with the lottery already won, the new fee bites.
• The B1 trip is coming up soon and feels like a natural moment to bring up the H-1B conversation. But I don't want to look like I've been hiding a US-relocation agenda when I genuinely haven't.

The options I'm seeing

1. Bring it up with my current company now, push for them to file a cap-exempt H-1B through their US entity. Eat the $100k fee if they're willing. Get to the US in a few months on a real visa.
2. Do the B1 trip first, prove value onsite, then bring up the H-1B conversation with leverage.
3. Wait it out. The $100k fee sunsets September 2026 unless extended. Lawsuits in flight. File later if the fee dies.
4. Use the next 18 months to find a US employer directly (Fortune-500, frontier AI lab, well-funded startup) who'd file cap-exempt for me. Better long-term trajectory, higher comp, cleaner green card sponsorship downstream.
5. Some combination.

What I'm actually asking

If you were 31, Indian, sitting on a cap-exempt I-797B that expires in 2028, married to an EU national who unlocks fast-track green card via cross-chargeability, working in Indian services on a US Fortune-500 client account, and wanted to be in the US for the long game - what would you do?

Hit me with the honest takes. I know there are people on here who've navigated this exact stuff.