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One of my colleague came to U.S. earlier this year on H1B, now his location and project has got changed and he is working on a different project for a different client who is located in a different State from last 2 months. His H1B (I-797) petitioner and employer (from which he is getting his salary is still the same).

  1. Does he or his organization needs to file H1B amendment in this case or only LCA is sufficient?

  2. Also, while this whole thing of filing H1B Amendment and LCA is in progress or not yet initiated, can he visit India for 2-3 weeks?

I have already gone through this question and link, but not able to understand whether amendment is required in this case or not?

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    The linked page clearly indicates that amendment is not required. What don't you understand? Describe a line of reasoning under which the amendment would be needed so we can understand your confusion and help remedy it.
    – phoog
    Commented Nov 11, 2015 at 6:14
  • Confusion is if you read the comments of the post says that Amendment is required while link itslef says it is not required refer to this comments from the link 'CB | October 7, 2015 at 1:43 pm | Reply' - "Whenever you change the work place address the LCA amendment has to be done. Employer will remain same and your client may change due to the project work. so you are required to do the LCA plus H1b Amendment." While other comment says this information is incorrect.
    – Dhiman
    Commented Nov 11, 2015 at 14:48
  • You may want to refer to the USCIS guidance on this subject issued after the Matter of Simeio Solutions case from this year. I believe that, basically, if the new location is not in the same metropolitan area, and the move is not a temporary relocation of less than 30/60 days, then an amendment is necessary.
    – user102008
    Commented Nov 16, 2015 at 9:14

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Does he or his organization needs to file H1B amendment in this case or only LCA is sufficient?

Seeing many different schools of thought on this. I will just quote the following from the draft guidance link

When You Do NOT Need to File an Amended Petition

A move within an MSA: If your H-1B employee is moving to a new job location within the same MSA or area of intended employment a new LCA is not required. Therefore, you do not need to file an amended H-1B petition. However, you must still post the original LCA in the new work location within the same MSA or area of intended employment. For example, an H-1B employee moving to a new job location within the New York City MSA (NYC) would not trigger the need for a new LCA, but you would still need to post the previously obtained LCA at the new work location. This is required regardless of whether an entire office moved from one location to another within NYC or if just one H-1B employee moves from one client site to another within NYC.

The draft guidance is a good read, I would suggest going through it to understand which exact situation applies in this case.

  • Also have you considered calling up USCIS to find more about this issues
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