Porting
Changing Employers on H-1B Status
This concept is called "porting". An H-1B worker is not bound to his or her employer for the entire duration of the H-1B visa. The H-1B portability rule allows H-1B visa holders to change employers as many times as they want during his/her visa status.
Prior to starting work for another employer the new employer must file an H-1B Porting Petition. Once the porting petition is received by USCIS the H-1B holder may begin employment with his/her new employer assuming the previously approved H-1B remains valid.
Please note, if the H-1B worker was subject to the cap and is switching employers subject to the cap or who are cap exempt, this does not affect the H-1B quota and the April rush filings are irrelevant. Meaning the Petition can be filed at any time.
This also applies if the H-1B worker was cap exempt and is transferring to another cap exempt employer. However, if a cap exempt employee is porting to a cap subject employer, the new position will require an H-1B visa number.
If the foreign national in the past 6 years was not counted against the cap, then he/she did not obtain an H-1B visa number. Therefore, the foreign national can file the H-1B transfer only when an H-1B visa number becomes available to him/her-that is, April 1 of each fiscal year, subject to the standard cap selection process. In such a case, the foreign national may not start working until the petition is approved and the work starting date cannot be before October 1 of that fiscal year.
