Travel while H1B approval and I140 are pending

[k36k]

Hello everyone,

Please let me know if it is safe for me to travel to India on Travel document while my H1B extension approval is pending.

More details-
H1B:
- Six yr limit expired May 30 08.
- 1 yr extension was filed in Feb 08, approval still pending. Texas center is still processing the applications filed in Dec 07.

Green card:
- EB3 Category, Priority date Mar 04
- Labor approved
- I140 was applied in Sep 07, approval pending
- I485 was applied in Sep 07
- Travel document valid until Nov 08
- No EAD

Appreciate any input you may have.

[txh1b]

It is a personal choice. Travel document as such has no risk associated with it. But you will no longer be on H1b when you return. If the I140 is denied or something happens to your I485, you will be out of status immediately. You would need to keep renewing your EAD to work.

Once the H1b gets approved, you could travel outside the US, get a visa stamp and return back on H1b status.

If you are single, then you can no longer bring dependents to US while you are a parolee.

[pb25]

Hi,

Just wanted to know if you filed your 7th year H1 extension under premium processing. It looks like your H1 extension is taking too long.Hence was curious to know since I have just filed for my 7th yr extension under pp and also received a query for which we already sent the reply.Thanks for your reply in advance.

[k36k]

Thanks for the responding txh1b. I'm married and if it works out I'll be traveling alone while my family stays in US.

pb25 - My 7th year extension was NOT filed as premium processing. It was hard to convince my employer's immigration laywer back in Feb. Since I'll be traveling on Company's behalf not sure if they will be more motivated to upgrade the filing now. I've four weeks left before I leave on my trip, how long did your pp take? So far we did not get any queries on my case, probably because Texas service center did not get to it yet.

[k36k]

As if it was a miracle, I got an approval notice today for my H1B extension. The USCIS website is still showing it as "case pending". The Immigration lawyer said now I can travel without a problem using the Travel Document.