• As soon as you find an employer, and they’re actually going to file the case, even before approval you can start working for that employer.
• 21st Century Act allows an immigrant to begin working for a new H1B employer as soon as that new employer files a petition

Raw Transcript:

Introduction: You ask we answer your immigration questions, simple. And now your host immigration lawyer Jacob Sapochnick.

Jacob: Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of Ask An Immigration Lawyer.

In this episode we’re going to be talking about H1B visa probability. This question comes from Jeff and Jeff is in California. He’s asking I am an H1B visa holder. At this point been working for my employer for two years now and I found a great job right now and I would like to transfer to the job. But the employer’s asking how soon can I start working for the new employer after filing the new visa? Excellent. That’s a great question and a source of confusion for many, many H1B holder.

Most H1B visa holders that aren’t familiar with law changes think that you have to wait for an approval upon filing an H1B transfer but that is not correct. Because there are H1B visa portability rules and since 2000 the American competitiveness in the 21st Century Act, AC21, provides that the known immigrant who has previously issued an H1B visa or provided H1B status may begin working for a new H1B employer as soon as that new employer files a petition. The idea is that as soon as you find an employer, and they’re actually going to file the case, even before approval you can start working for that employer.

Of course that’s obviously with the condition that you came legally, you’ve been legally employed on the previous H1B, it’s a known [inaudible 00:01:50], it’s real filing, and that you have not been working illegally all this time, you can … filing of the transfer, start working for the employer right away which is great. Basically as soon as the case is filed you can start working under the AC21.

So hopefully that answers your question. If you have any other questions feel free to email us. Log in to askanimmigrationlawyer.com, send the questions and we’ll be more than happy to answer.

Once again you ask, we answer, simple. See you at our next episode.

Closing: Thank you for listening to the Ask My Immigration Lawyer Podcast, the show that’s dedicated to answering your immigration questions – simple as that. See you next week for another round of questions and much needed answers.