0Want to know about F1 to H1B visa conversion? Well, Tapas was working as an associate software engineer after completing his graduation. He was not sure whether to apply for H1B visa or F1 visa. Read on to know what he decided.
Whether you want to study in the USA or want to work in the USA, if you do not possess the American citizenship, you must possess your visa approval. Well, as an international student, you will need F1 visa approval if you want to study in the USA. On the other hand, H1B visa offers you the permission to stay and work in the USA. If you are already an international student and studying at one of the most reputed universities in the USA, it is obvious that you are an F1 student visa holder. However, you need to change your visa status from F1 to H1B visa for staying further in the USA and work permanently there.
Tapas found out that the initial visa duration of the F1 student visa was 5 years. Once he could complete his study, student visa status could be converted into H1B visa. On the other hand, the initial visa duration of the H1B status was 3 years. After the completion of first three years, the H1B visa could be extended up to another 3 years.
He also realized that F1 student visa holders were allowed to do both part-time and full-time jobs in the USA. Thus, he could earn while studying and could manage his own expenses. Moreover, as a student, if he could earn while studying, he could do a lot of savings as he could skip the burden of paying the huge tax amount.
Alternative Pathway to Convert F1 to H1B Visa:
While comparing both the F1 and H1B visa, Tapas understood that getting an H1B visa approval was not a piece of cake! Each year more than 3 lakhs applicants from all over the world apply for this H1b visa approval. However, only lucky 65,000 people will get selected via lottery system! Apart from that, the entire visa approval procedure takes almost 12 months to 18 months time to get done. On the contrary, he could anytime apply for the F1 student visa approval and the procedure does not take so much time like H1B visa approval.
Thus, Tapas realized that instead of wasting 18 months time in H1B filling where the success rate is only 33%, he could easily apply for his student visa; pursue higher studies and then could apply to convert visa status from F1 to H1B visa.
