How many H1B chances for Fall graduates?

[DesiOPTForumAdmin]

How many H1B chances for Fall graduates?


Hi Guys, I am studying my masters in Electrical Engineering and I am graduating this fall i.e Dec 18th , my OPT date is Feb 6th.I have question which cant really figure out


1. Can a student graduating this fall semester have three chances to apply for H1b in April as mine is STEM major i.e 29 months?
2. If I am hired by an employer in Feb and if he is ready to sponsor me, can I apply for H1b in April 2015 ?Many suggested me not to apply this April give me some suggestions on this

[DesiOPT-FaceBook-Admin]

Your message was posted as anonymous on Facebook wall- (Oct 18th)

[DesiOPT-FaceBook-Fan]

2.Yes you can apply without any hesitation

[DesiOPT-FaceBook-Fan]

1.It depends when your OPT extension will expire if its expiring on or after April 1st you are eligible to apply(CAP-GAP) for that fiscal year if it is expiring before April 1st then you should apply one year before so calculate when you are OPT extension is expiring and count how many time the month April is coming between your start or OPT and End of your OPT extension

[DesiOPT-FaceBook-Fan]

Start your OPT on November 1st and you will get 3 chances. There's NO reason for you to stop applying for H1B in the coming year

[DesiOPT-FaceBook-Fan]

1. It doesn't matter whether the graduation is in Fall or Spring. What matters is your OPT start date, which you mentioned as Feb 6th 2015. Initially you will get OPT for one year, that is until Feb 5th 2016. Meanwhile you can apply for H1 in April 2015 if you would like to. As yours is a STEM major, you will get a chance to apply for 17 month extension. The 17 month period starts from Feb 6th 2016 and ends on September 5th 2017. Meanwhile you can apply for H1 in April 2016 as well as April 2017. Overall you will have 3 chances to apply for H1.

2. I highly recommend you to apply for H1 from the very first year (April 2015) to avoid the risk as this process is more dependent on luck (lottery) with number of H1 petitions increasing every year.