Maintaining H-1B Status

The following rules govern your H-1B status at UConn:

  1. You must always be engaged only in your original contract obligations in the current H-1B petition by your UConn hiring department unless you have a separate approval notice (I-797) authorizing concurrent employment elsewhere (including another UConn department and/or another UConn campus).
  2. Work with your hiring department to submit your H-1B extension materials to our office (OGC) at a minimum of 4 months, and up to 7 months, prior to the expiration date of your current H-1B.
  3. You must report any changes in employment to OGC BEFORE they occur and get instructions to amend your original H-1B petition.

This includes:

1. Additional responsibilities/inclusion of teaching from a strictly research position

2. Change in department/area of work or research

3. Change in location (regional campuses, off-campus placement)

4. Change of hours – full to part time; reduced/increased hours

5. Possibly job title changes

D.  Provide OGC with a copy of your I-94 card (I-94 Arrival/Departure Record) every time you return from a trip abroad. If the end date on your I-94 card is different than the end date of your H-1B approval notice, notify OGC immediately. Know your I-94 expiration date and be sure it is always a date in the future.

E.  You must report your physical residence address change to USCIS within 10 days of a move by filing Form AR-11 online at www.uscis.gov.

* this is different from F or J status!

F.  You must report to the Office of the General Counsel your permanent departure from UConn as an H-1B beneficiary.

*OGC must report the end of your H-1B status to USCIS.

G.  You must report to the Office of the General Counsel when you change your status from H-1B to another visa category or adjust your status to that of a permanent resident.

*OGC must report the end of your H-1B status to USCIS.

H.  You must NOT be engaged in any unauthorized employment or receive any unauthorized payment while being in H-1B status.

*This includes honorarium payments.

I.  Study while in H-1B status must be incidental to the primary purpose of your stay in the U.S., that being your H-1B-sponsored employment. You may take personal enrichment classes, but you cannot be a full time student seeking a degree in H-1B status.

* H-4 Dependent Study -Your spouse and children in H-4 dependent status may take classes either full time or part time, but they cannot work under ANY circumstances.

J.  No criminal behavior or possession of drugs.

K. Understand the possibility of a random USCIS site visit to verify your employment:

USCIS has the right to visit UConn and “check up” on your employment to verify that:

(1) UConn’s signatory (OGC staff) knows that he/she has petitioned for an H-1B and can explain the purpose of your H-1B employment with UConn.

(2) The H-1B beneficiary (you) is working at the same location, in the same job, and receiving the sponsored wage, as certified in the H-1B petition.

Answer any questions asked by the government official truthfully.

L. The H-1B does not have a grace period after the termination of status, unlike the grace period for an F or J status. Your H-1B status expires on your:

(1) employment completion date (the end date of the H-1B petition for your current position);

(2) employment termination date (the date determined by your hiring department to terminate your employment); or

(3) your resignation date

You must have an H-1B petition filed by another employer or a change of status application to another visa category filed BEFORE any of the end dates indicated above (1-3), in order to maintain your lawful status in the U.S.