Need help on H1B status and I-94 records showing incorrect information

[abhi24dec]

Hello All,

I need help on knowing my legal H1B status in US and also as to how to get my incorrect I-94 record corrected.

I went on Cruise from 28th Dec, 2014 to 4th Jan, 2015 from Houston, TX to Belize, Honduras & Mexico. When we re-entered US, the US Customer & Border Protection (CBP) team, entered my I-94 last expiration date as 07/15/2015 which was as per my original stamping date with my old employer, Wipro. I got my H1B transferred to PwC in July 2014 whic has new expiration date of May 2017..

I went to CBP office today here in Dallas to get my I-94 corrected to 05/15/2017 as per my new H1B petition when PwC filed it during my H1B transfer from Wipro. They told me that it is not a mistake and cannot be rectified by them. They told me since I left US but remained within Mexico or nearby Islands (did not go too far, i.e. beyond Mexico or Canada), hence my I-94 has been re-instated with old visa expiration date of 07/15/2015.

Now the above can only be rectified by filing a new I-129 petition for myself by my employer (PwC) and I-539 for my dependents (wife & daughter) else my last date to stay in US will be 07/15/2015.

I was not aware that due to cruise to Mexico, something like this will happen on my legal status.

I hold a valid H1B petition with PwC as petitioner and having expiration date of May 2017. But because of I-94 data showing July 2015, I am not sure if my legal status is fine or not after july 2015 in US even if my I-94 does not get corrected to current expiration date. As a result of this, when my wife today went to get her Driving license, she got it only till July 2015 as this was the last date of expiration of visa/petition as per my old petition with Wipro.

CBP officials told me that I either need to get a fresh !-129 filed by my employer or need to travel beyong Mexico/Canada borders and re-enter US to get the correct I-94 date. I don't want to bear this travel expense for the 3 of us. What is the other possible way out?

Request you to kindly advise and do the needful asap. I am left with less than 3 months only on my visa expiration.

Regards
Abhishek

[raghvi]

Hello All,

I need help on knowing my legal H1B status in US and also as to how to get my incorrect I-94 record corrected.

I went on Cruise from 28th Dec, 2014 to 4th Jan, 2015 from Houston, TX to Belize, Honduras & Mexico. When we re-entered US, the US Customer & Border Protection (CBP) team, entered my I-94 last expiration date as 07/15/2015 which was as per my original stamping date with my old employer, Wipro. I got my H1B transferred to PwC in July 2014 whic has new expiration date of May 2017..

I went to CBP office today here in Dallas to get my I-94 corrected to 05/15/2017 as per my new H1B petition when PwC filed it during my H1B transfer from Wipro. They told me that it is not a mistake and cannot be rectified by them. They told me since I left US but remained within Mexico or nearby Islands (did not go too far, i.e. beyond Mexico or Canada), hence my I-94 has been re-instated with old visa expiration date of 07/15/2015.

Now the above can only be rectified by filing a new I-129 petition for myself by my employer (PwC) and I-539 for my dependents (wife & daughter) else my last date to stay in US will be 07/15/2015.

I was not aware that due to cruise to Mexico, something like this will happen on my legal status.

I hold a valid H1B petition with PwC as petitioner and having expiration date of May 2017. But because of I-94 data showing July 2015, I am not sure if my legal status is fine or not after july 2015 in US even if my I-94 does not get corrected to current expiration date. As a result of this, when my wife today went to get her Driving license, she got it only till July 2015 as this was the last date of expiration of visa/petition as per my old petition with Wipro.

CBP officials told me that I either need to get a fresh !-129 filed by my employer or need to travel beyong Mexico/Canada borders and re-enter US to get the correct I-94 date. I don't want to bear this travel expense for the 3 of us. What is the other possible way out?

Request you to kindly advise and do the needful asap. I am left with less than 3 months only on my visa expiration.

Regards
Abhishek

With I-94 becoming electronic this is a fairly common occurrence now. I-94 are generally issued only till Visa expiry date, not as per latest petition expiry date. And the latest I-94 holds precedence over the one you got in the extended I797 as per the last action rule.

As CBP has already refused to provide an extended I-94 to match your latest petition your options are limited:

Option 1. Travel out of US, go for fresh stamping of H1/H4, and re enter US. This is the surest way of getting I-94 matching your I797. if you merely leave and re enter there is very high likelihood that you would end up with same I-94 as you currently have.
Option 2. As suggested by CBP officers to file I539 for all of you and get it extended by USCIS. This may get you an extended I-94 but again as and when you leave US, post July 2015, you anyhow have to get a new stamping done.

Option 2 does have less cost associated but doesn't provide the flexibility to travel in and out of US also there is going to be anxiety, license expiry issues etc. till extension is approved .
Option 1 has cost implications, especially with a travel outside US for the entire family, but you more or less dont have to worry about extensions till 2017. I personally believe option 1 is better as you can minimize cost by going to neighboring country and get the stamping done. Of course, you have to be confident of all the paperwork, PwC is a good enough brand so I doubt you would have a problem getting the right paperwork.

This is my opinion not legal advice.