H1B - Petition Approved, EOS Deined, H1B Amendment in Progress - Please help

[agnia123]

Hi,

my name is Amit. I was working for company A in 2015 on H1 and my visa and I -94 were valid till Nov 2015. In September 2015 company A filed for my H1B extension.

In April 2016, My extension with company A was in pending status when I had to change my Employer due to job loss. I switched to other firm B and they filed H1 transfer for me in May 2016. I was working client A when my petition was filed.

In Jan 2017, I upgraded my petition to premium but it got denied in April 2017 after one big RFE. Employer B again filed new H1B for me in April after 2 weeks but I had to change my client while this petition was in progress. Now my petition is approved in June 2017 but they denied my extension of stay and notified my H1B petition approval to Chennai consulate.

Now we attorney is telling me to file amendment due to client change. With no premium processing available this is going to take time.

Now my question is " What are my options?"

1. can I stay in USA till my amendment is approved. If yes then how long.

2. if no then can I go for stamping with Amendment in progress?

3. Can we do anything to expedite the H1 Amendment process?

Thanks

[raghvi]

Hi,

my name is Amit. I was working for company A in 2015 on H1 and my visa and I -94 were valid till Nov 2015. In September 2015 company A filed for my H1B extension.

In April 2016, My extension with company A was in pending status when I had to change my Employer due to job loss. I switched to other firm B and they filed H1 transfer for me in May 2016. I was working client A when my petition was filed.

In Jan 2017, I upgraded my petition to premium but it got denied in April 2017 after one big RFE. Employer B again filed new H1B for me in April after 2 weeks but I had to change my client while this petition was in progress. Now my petition is approved in June 2017 but they denied my extension of stay and notified my H1B petition approval to Chennai consulate.

Now we attorney is telling me to file amendment due to client change. With no premium processing available this is going to take time.

Now my question is " What are my options?"

1. can I stay in USA till my amendment is approved. If yes then how long.

2. if no then can I go for stamping with Amendment in progress?

3. Can we do anything to expedite the H1 Amendment process?

Thanks

1. Do you have a I-94 which is valid beyond Nov 2015? If not, then you seem be out of status and illegal potentially triggering a ban.
2. It depends on above query answer, Check with attorney regarding the same.
3. No.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[agnia123]

1. Do you have a I-94 which is valid beyond Nov 2015? If not, then you seem be out of status and illegal potentially triggering a ban.
2. It depends on above query answer, Check with attorney regarding the same.
3. No.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

My I-94 was expired in Nov 2015 but My H1 extension with USCIS was filed before that. If you read the description provided here, All the time before my H1B approval, petition was always in progress at USCIS and one can stay in USA for that period. In my latest H1B approval that i got in Week 2 of June, they approved I-797 but denied to EOS and asked for Consular Processing.

[raghvi]

My I-94 was expired in Nov 2015 but My H1 extension with USCIS was filed before that. If you read the description provided here, All the time before my H1B approval, petition was always in progress at USCIS and one can stay in USA for that period. In my latest H1B approval that i got in Week 2 of June, they approved I-797 but denied to EOS and asked for Consular Processing.

One can stay and ones stay becomes legal only if the extension is eventually approved with a valid I-94, which didn't happen in your case.

This is my opinion not legal advice.