More details to this question:
Good morning I cam to US on F1 visa for graduate studies in 2014. While on OPT(working for non-profit organization say X) my country was designated for TPS, so i applied for TPS and got approved. Now my company has decided to petition for H1B on my behalf for a cap exempt category. They have decided to set my H1B start date as 2 days before the TPS end date. So my question is If my H1B is approved do i have to leave the country to change the status to H1B. Since i have always maintained legal status in this country, will i not be able to change the status to H1B without leaving the US?
1 ANSWER
It is not clear whether you have maintained your F-1 status or not. A person can hold both F-1 status and TPS at the same time so long as they continue to maintain student status. If you have maintained your F-1 status, you would not need to leave the U.S. A change of status would simply be requested. If you have not maintained F-1 status, you may be able to remain in the U.S. More information would be needed and timing of the petition would be important. I encourage you to speak to the attorney who will be handling the petition. You can read more about changing status at http://myattorneyusa.com/temporary-protected-status-tps#ADJUSTMENT%20OR%20CHANGE%20OF%20STATUS.
Answered on Oct 31st, 2016 at 3:44 AM