H1 Revalidation/H4 Stamping - Please Advice

[mzafar]

Has anyone recently revalidated there H1 visa from US Consulate in Canada or Mexico? How much time (in reality) is it taking now days?

If I travel outside US on my H1 visa that’s expiring in 5-10 days but I do have a H1B renewal notice, any idea if I would be given an entry based on this visa. If I am allowed to enter US, my I-94 will reflect dates based on my current visa or the renewal notice

My wife is currently residing outside US and she wants to apply for her H4, if she uses my current H1 it has a very limited validity, if she uses my H1 renewal notice then her visa would be issued from what date? The date from when my H1 renewal notice will be applicable? I am planning to make a trip to my home country and bring my wife along, If her H4 gets the date from my H1 renewal then I wont be able to travel with her because by that time my visa would have been expired. At this point I can’t afford to stay outside US and get my visa revalidated. Any advice?

[veena_swsh]

Hi Mzafar,
It is highly recommended that you go to your home country to get your H1B renewal stamped. There have been many cases where the US consulates at the borders ask you to go back to your home land to get passport stamped. Besides, if you and your wife attend the same consular interviews for H1b and H4 respectively, the chances of her H4 is very high as most of the questions regarding your employment can be handled by you more effectively than your wife. Also if your wife is to attend her H4 interview alone with your H1B stamping obtained from the borders, the Consulate will surely question her as to why you did not come to homeland for that. If u r planning to go over to Canada or Mexico, I think your wife should be prepared to handle that question effectively.

VEENA
(NOT LEGAL ADVICE)

[mzafar]

Veena:

Thanks for your response.

I am confused about two things; I hope you or anyone else can enlighten me on this

1. If my wife gets her H4 based on my H1 renewal notice, lets say the new I-797 is valid from 1 Dec 05 to 1 Dec 08, and if my wife goes to the consulate on 5 Sept and is issued a visa, the validity of her visa would it start from 5 Sept or 1 Dec?

2. If I get my H1 Approval notice and do not revalidate my visa, let’s say if my visa is expiring on 20 Nov, if I travel to Pakistan during Nov and come back before 20 Nov, would I be allowed to enter US? Considering the fact that my visa would be expiring in few days but I will have the approval notice. Any ideas?

Thanks again.

[veena_swsh]

Hi,
1. If your wife's passport is stamped with a h1b (renewal) it will be valid from the date of stamping and she can travel any date after she gets her Passport. She does not have to wait until 1 Dec or whatevr the date of validity of your H1b renewal approval.
2. If u are travelling back to the US with a visa expiry date very close to the date of arrival in the US, you will certainly have problems at the port of entry. Therefore it is better that you get your pasport stamped with the h1b renewal.

VEENA
(NOT LEGAL ADVICE)

[mzafar]

Veena. Thanks for your help, really appreciate that.