I came to US in Aug. 1998 to pursue Master of Computer Science degree on F1 visa. After graduation, I joined a
startup in Silicon Valley in Aug. 2000. At that time, I applied for OPT (Optional Practical Training) in May 2000 and use OPT to work at that company. Then in Jan 2001, I applied and got approved for H-1B visa, so I worked on H-1B visa thereafter until Dec. 2002. In October 2001, I also applied for Labor Certificate using EB2, but my job was terminated in Dec. 2002 before I got approval of Labor Certificate. In October 2002, I applied for F1 visa and got approved in April 2003. Then I transferred my F1 visa to another university in August 2003, and now I am studying
another master degree in business management. I will graduate in May
2005.

Now my two questions:

Q: 1. Would I be approved for another OPT now, if I apply?

Since current degree is Master, which is the same level as the one
I got in year 2000, so I may not get another OPT. But since I
have 2 year and a half years of H1B, which is a break of F1 status,
so I might get another OPT. This is the answer I got from my
school, but they are not really sure whether I will get approval or not.


Q: 2. If I apply H-1B now, do I subject to this year's quota?

A: 2nd OPT approval will be discretionary. Thus, I recommend filing months prior to your program completion.
According to CIS, new H1b/cos requests are not subject to the cap within the same 6 year period.