Unpaid vacation during maternity

[Junk_nare]

Hi,

I got a question related to 12 months of unpaid vacation on Maternity.

My wife is on H1B started in October 1st 2012. We recently came to know that she is pregnant. She wants to take an unpaid vacation for one year for maternity.
• Her payroll is not run in October and November as she was dealing with first 2 months of pregnancy.
• She got her SSN on November 20th 2012.
• She was on H4 Visa before she came to H1B visa. My H1B was due for extension on October 1st 2012 and I did not apply for her H4 as she is on H1 starting October 1st 2012.

Question:
1. Is there way to amend the current H1B or stay on H1B without running the Payroll as her payroll was never started? Just to avoid the conversion of visa status again.
2. If the above is not a feasible option and status Conversion is the only option,
• Does conversion from current H1B to H4 needs pay stubs/payroll?
• And does her conversion from H4 to H1 after a year needs any pay stubs?
• When she converts back to H1 an year after, does she needs to convert to only her current employer or can she convert H1B any employer in market.
• Finally, does she need to wait for quota for H4 to H1B after a year or can she convert any time irrespective of quota.

Please help me with this request. Thanks in advance.

[raghvi]

Hi,

I got a question related to 12 months of unpaid vacation on Maternity.

My wife is on H1B started in October 1st 2012. We recently came to know that she is pregnant. She wants to take an unpaid vacation for one year for maternity.
• Her payroll is not run in October and November as she was dealing with first 2 months of pregnancy.
• She got her SSN on November 20th 2012.
• She was on H4 Visa before she came to H1B visa. My H1B was due for extension on October 1st 2012 and I did not apply for her H4 as she is on H1 starting October 1st 2012.

Question:
1. Is there way to amend the current H1B or stay on H1B without running the Payroll as her payroll was never started? Just to avoid the conversion of visa status again.
2. If the above is not a feasible option and status Conversion is the only option,
• Does conversion from current H1B to H4 needs pay stubs/payroll?
• And does her conversion from H4 to H1 after a year needs any pay stubs?
• When she converts back to H1 an year after, does she needs to convert to only her current employer or can she convert H1B any employer in market.
• Finally, does she need to wait for quota for H4 to H1B after a year or can she convert any time irrespective of quota.

Please help me with this request. Thanks in advance.

USCIS doesn't accept " dealing with pregnancy" valid enough reason for not getting paid. If she was working since 01-Oct-2012 the H1 employer is bound to pay her. Her payroll not being run in October/November puts her currently out of status. A conversion to H4 is not possible if she is out of status.
1. No its not possible. For one to maintain valid H1 status she should be getting paid.If one doesnt want to work why get converted to H1 in first place.
2. Conversion out of any status needs proof of having maintained that status. So if she wants to move out of H1 status she has to first prove that she was in valid H1 status.

Instead of worrying about next year I would advise to first get the current out of status resolved. You may be able to use medical condition but you would have to take a lawyer's help to sort this out as the more out of status she accumulates more difficult it will be in future.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[kabkaba]

A genuine and properly documented reason such as pregnancy is acceptable for unpaid leave, however in this case she must first join the employer and then go on leave. The problem is that she has not completed joining formalities on Oct 1.