My wife was in US on L1B visa for 5 years which expired Dec 2015. We then converted her to H4 dependent status. She has been outside US for 7 months in 2016 and inside US for 5 months on H4 status. In order to file a fresh H1 for her, is it required for her to remain outside US for a continuous period of 365 days to reset the counter or can she just stay outside another 5 months to be eligible for applying a new work visa?
