rlzhao

A friend of mine came to US for obtaining medical treatment on B-2 visa. Now a few
employers have already approached him for a job offer. My question is where there is
a way for him to switch from B-2 to H-1 visa.

I was told by other friends that "B-2 visa holders are not permitted to accept
employment during their stay in the US." If this is true, how can my friend
solve this problem? Should he go back to China (home country) and apply for H-1
for re-entry? So that means there is no way to directly switch B-2 to H-1 in
this country?

Thanks for your help! Ruilin Zhao ([email protected])

James Donovan

[email protected] wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > A friend of mine came to US for obtaining medical treatment on B-2 visa. Now a few
    > employers have already approached him for a job offer. My question is where there
    > is a way for him to switch from B-2 to H-1 visa.
    >
    > I was told by other friends that "B-2 visa holders are not permitted to accept
    > employment during their stay in the US." If this is true, how can my friend solve
    > this problem? Should he go back to China (home country) and apply for H-1 for
    > re-entry? So that means there is no way to directly switch B-2 to H-1 in this
    > country?

You can switch from B-2 to H-1, but it takes time. Under new proposed visa
regulations, however, it may not be possible in the near future.

crazy daisy

Hello - we were able to change from B2 to H1 last year - we applied for change of status which allowed us to stay in the country for up to 180 days while it was being processed - I think in total it took about 5 months to come through. This was BEFORE Sep 11th though some things maybe a little different now!

The rules mean that the applicant is not allowed to earn a salary until the new visa's have been agreed. This may need to be verified by a lawyer but wanted to point that out as something to bear in mind..