H1 Visa extension questions

[Winner123]

Hi,

I am currently on H1B with I-140 approved and priority date of July 2010. Visa on my passport has expired in Nov 2010 and my employer applied for extension and now have an extension till March 15th 2013(on I-797).

I and my family(wife and kid(born in US)) plan to visit India(Hyderabad) in December 2012 and return January 2012. Since my visa on passport has expired I would have to go for visa stamping in this visit.

My Questions:

-> Will my visa only be stamped till March 15 2013 as my I-797 is valid only till Mar 15 2013?
-> Can my employer apply for an extension ahead(may be like in Nov 2012) so that I can get stamping for longer period than Mar 15th 2013?
-> What are my options? Should I consider postponing this visit to post March and wait for extension?

Please advise.

Many Thanks.

[Pjyoti]

H1 B Visa extension without travelling to US

Hi,
My H1b visa was filed in Nov 2011 and got approved in March2012.However USCIS site still shows this in initial review status.My employer received petition documents in June 2012 and it shows valid from March2012 till March 2013.
Now the problem is that I can not travel before June 2013 due to health condition.So Is there any way that petition can be extended without travelling to US.Please let me know what other options I have?
Thanks.