H1B COS pending, On H4 planning for EAD

USA H1B
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1

I’m on h4 without EAD, my H1b got picked and petition is filed on June 2025 as COS and waiting for approval.
In the meantime my husband’s I140 is approved and his company is planning for extension. If I apply for EAD along with his extension under premium I’ll get my EAD fastly. But I want to know what happens to my H1B. Here are few questions

  1. Can I switch to H1B after my EAD is approved.
  2. Will my h1b gets absconded.
  3. Can I switch to EAD if h1b gets approved before applying for EAD. Will it impact my H1B.

Can someone please help me with your suggestions. I’m confused.

2
  1. Since H1B COS is pending, your status will change to H1B on approval.
  2. No
  3. You can only switch between H4 and H1B and vice versa. You can use H4 EAD only when your status is H4.
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3

This is a common situation, so don’t worry.

  • Your H-1B will not be “absconded.” Filing H-4 EAD does not cancel or invalidate a pending or approved H-1B petition.

  • If your H-4 EAD is approved first, you can work on EAD and later switch to H-1B once the H-1B COS is approved. That’s allowed.

  • If your H-1B gets approved first, you’ll move to H-1B status. You can still apply for H-4 EAD later only if you move back to H-4 status (you can’t hold H-1B and H-4 at the same time).

  • Having an approved EAD does not negatively impact your H-1B approval.

Key point: you can have multiple applications pending, but you can hold only one status at a time, based on the most recently approved COS.

If timing matters for work, many people use H-4 EAD first and then transition to H-1B when approved.