Employment Based Immigration Handbook
I. H-1B Overview
I.4 H-1B EXTENSIONS AND PORTABILITY (When a prospective Beneficiary currently holds valid H-1B status)
Extension (up to 240 days or until adjudication):
(Current UToledo H-1B Employee in valid H-Status) A foreign national may work up to 240 days without the need for an Approval Notice (I-797) upon the filing of a non-frivolous I-129 petition and when UToledo is in possession of a USCIS Receipt Notice. Generally, this requires the prospective employee to maintain their lawful H-1B status without expiration and to not have engaged in unauthorized employment in the past.
The sponsoring College or Department should initiate the H-1B process six months prior
to the current expiration or initiate the process prior to a contemplated change in
job title, job location, job duties, or other substantial/material change. The extension
procedure will be just as time-intensive and will require the same petition and materials
as a change of status petition.
Portability:
(H-1B Employee from another employer) In this case, there is a prospective employee who currently holds valid H-1B status from another employer. In this circumstance, UToledo will be able to either “port” from the previous employer’s H-1B or file a new H-1B extension as long as the new H-1B petition is received by USCIS prior to the expiration of the employee’s existing H-1B. The prospective employee must also hold valid H-1B status and not have engaged in unlawful employment in the past.
Careful planning by the prospective employee must take place. As there is no grace period upon the termination of an H-1B (i.e., separation from the prior employer), steps should be taken to maintain uninterrupted and continuous employment. This is important for both prospective employees and employees who may separate from UToledo.
Upon the filing of the petition and subsequent arrival of a Receipt Notice, a prospective employee may work up to 240 days or until adjudication of the H-1B, which may or may not result in approval.
Note: A prospective employee that requires a Change of Status (COS) will require an H-1B (I-797) Approval Notice to be received by mail prior to any granting of work authority. Please contact CISP to discuss these situations. The Extension and Portability rules stated above do NOT apply in Change of Status applications.
Go to the next section: II.1 U.S. Department of Labor and the Labor Condition Application (LCA)