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I am currently employed on H1B but now I plan to go for a PhD. I have an I-20 (with start date of 5/17) from a reputed university and wanted to transfer my status from H1B to F1. It seems that the two options are: Applying for COS from US or get a new F1 stamp from my home country. I had few questions in this regard and would appreciate if someone can share related information:
1. The school mentioned that COS approval may take up to 6 months and so they wanted me to get a visa stamp. Given the average time of 2.5 months what's the likelihood of getting COS approved in time? How much time would it take for H1B to F1 COS approval?
2. If I plan to get a new stamp, can there be any complication as I had an F1 earlier for my MS and was on H1B for the past 4 years?
3. Do I have to quit my job before traveling out of US to get the visa stamp?*
4. If I do not quit my job beforehand and get the F1 stamped, will H1B get revoked? In that case is it ok to inform the employer once I re-enter on F1, or that would be illegal?
5. If I do not quit my job beforehand and F1 gets denied will H1B also get revoked? Or I can still use it to re-enter.
1. The school mentioned that COS approval may take up to 6 months and so they wanted me to get a visa stamp. Given the average time of 2.5 months what's the likelihood of getting COS approved in time? How much time would it take for H1B to F1 COS approval?
2. If I plan to get a new stamp, can there be any complication as I had an F1 earlier for my MS and was on H1B for the past 4 years?
3. Do I have to quit my job before traveling out of US to get the visa stamp?*
4. If I do not quit my job beforehand and get the F1 stamped, will H1B get revoked? In that case is it ok to inform the employer once I re-enter on F1, or that would be illegal?
5. If I do not quit my job beforehand and F1 gets denied will H1B also get revoked? Or I can still use it to re-enter.
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