H-1B Recapture Calculator
Count only full days outside the United States and produce an evidence-gated recapture candidate for petitioner review. Inputs stay in your browser.
Only full 24-hour days outside the United States are counted here. Departure and return travel days are excluded, and overlapping entries are deduplicated.
Context matters.
- The petitioner must request and document recapture; this calendar does not extend status or employment authorization.
- AC21, labor-certification, approved-I-140, cap, change-of-status and time in another classification require a different analysis.
- Use passport stamps, I-94 history, tickets and other reliable evidence for every claimed full day.
Sources & scope
The calculation guide and this source trail show what the result means, where the rule came from and when it was last reviewed. This is source-and-calculation QA, not a claim of medical, legal, tax or other professional review; time-sensitive decisions still belong with the linked authority.
A visible path from input to answer.
Count only full days outside the United States and produce an evidence-gated recapture candidate for petitioner review. The page keeps the calculation scope and its limits beside the result so the output can be checked, copied or revisited.
- Read the record. The calculator uses Current six-year maximum date, Case path, Trip 1 · U.S. departure date, Trip 1 · U.S. return date and Trip 2 · U.S. departure date and 12 additional fields supplied in the form.
- Apply the scope. It applies the United States H-1B petition planning — full days outside the United States only; petitioner evidence, USCIS adjudication and special extension paths control reference and the explicit date, unit and counting conventions shown in the result.
- Expose the checkpoints. Intermediate rows, warnings and timeline events stay visible; the emphasized row identifies the primary checkpoint when one exists.
Only full 24-hour days outside the United States are counted here. Departure and return travel days are excluded, and overlapping entries are deduplicated.
- USCIS outcomeNot determined
Calculation purpose: Count only full days outside the United States and produce an evidence-gated recapture candidate for petitioner review. This is a high-sensitivity reference output; the linked authority or qualified professional controls the final decision.
Calendar inputs use plain year-month-day semantics. Leap days, month ends, date-pair order and unsupported dates are checked before the result is shown.
Rule set 2.0.0 · Last reviewed 2026-08-22 · Next review due 2027-02-22. The source panel below contains the linked evidence.
What to know before using the result.
Why are H-1B departure and return dates excluded?
USCIS decisions treat only complete 24-hour days outside the United States as recapturable in this path. A travel day with any time in the United States is not counted here.
Does the candidate date extend my H-1B status?
No. The petitioner must request recapture with evidence, and USCIS may approve all, part or none of the requested period. The approved petition and I-94 control.
Can I use this for AC21 extensions?
Not as a simple recapture calculation. Labor-certification, I-140 and other AC21 or special paths require a separate case analysis, so the tool blocks that branch.