H1B Visa Extension - 6 Months and counting ..

[delhi5249]

Hi,

The 6 year of my H1B and the recapture period expired earlier this year and an extension was filed by my firm's lawyer in early January in premium processing. The lawyer told me I should be getting it by late January. End of January, he told me that USCIS asked some extra questions and we should be getting the extension approval in a few days now. I asked again in mid March, he inquired about it and found out that the application accidentally went into regular processing while we paid for premium processing. He said it is back into premium processing and we should get it in a few days.

Now, it has been another 3 months, and every time I ask, my lawyer says it is a very opaque process and we cannot do anything about it except for waiting. Is this true? or are there ways of inquiring about your application that he probably doesn't know about? It is hard to believe that USCIS would not provide any update for 3-4 months on something that is expected to be delivered in 15 days.

Thanks,
D5

[shervin143]

If you have already completed 6 years in H1B, on what grounds in the extension filed? Is it filed based on a approved or pending I-140 (GC) petition?

[delhi5249]

If you have already completed 6 years in H1B, on what grounds in the extension filed? Is it filed based on a approved or pending I-140 (GC) petition?

Yes, when the extension was filed in January, my I140 was pending and it got approved in March this year

[shervin143]

Did you check the case status online? If it is a premium processing case, the online status would say that. Usually USCIS will process premium processing cases within 15 days from the receipt notice (Unless there is an RFE. In which case, the 15 day clock will reset from the day when the RFE documents were received). If they cannot process the application within 15 days, they will refund the premium processing fee. Check with your employer to see if the cheque for PP fee has been cached or not.

[delhi5249]

Did you check the case status online? If it is a premium processing case, the online status would say that. Usually USCIS will process premium processing cases within 15 days from the receipt notice (Unless there is an RFE. In which case, the 15 day clock will reset from the day when the RFE documents were received). If they cannot process the application within 15 days, they will refund the premium processing fee. Check with your employer to see if the cheque for PP fee has been cached or not.

The problem was that my firm's lawyer had always shied away from providing me the receipt number, I don't know why, so I couldn't check my case status online. He recently gave it to me and the online system says RFE received. He won't even tell me whether PP fee was refunded. If I ask him if something can be done, because its been almost 10 months now, he just says bureaucracy sucks and we cannot do anything, just keep waiting. I think he can follow up but he is a big time slacker. I have no idea how to approach this.

Thank you for your responses