'Last Action Taken' rule - URGENT help needed with change of status

[praneethbm]

Hello fellow Immihelpers,

I am a physician currently working as a academic hospitalist at a major university hospital on H1B(stamped visa in 2014 valid until 6/24/2016) with approved i140. A change of status to H4 effective 6/25/2016 with an EAD under C26 category was approved Jan 2016 based on my H1B i94 May 2015 (last action taken, if you know what I mean). I happened to travel to India for 2 weeks and was admitted back under H1B in May 2016 (my new 'last action taken'). My university international office suggests that my COS to H4 may have been negated by the different 'last action taken' date and asked me to go out of the country to get a H4 visa stamped. They suggest that me staying beyond the expiry of my current H1B visa in the US would essentially mean I am overstaying my visa and will be a problem when I ultimately move to permanent residency.

I need advice here. Please help. Any advice will be appreciated.

[rdrp]

Hello fellow Immihelpers,

I am a physician currently working as a academic hospitalist at a major university hospital on H1B(stamped visa in 2014 valid until 6/24/2016) with approved i140. A change of status to H4 effective 6/25/2016 with an EAD under C26 category was approved Jan 2016 based on my H1B i94 May 2015 (last action taken, if you know what I mean). I happened to travel to India for 2 weeks and was admitted back under H1B in May 2016 (my new 'last action taken'). My university international office suggests that my COS to H4 may have been negated by the different 'last action taken' date and asked me to go out of the country to get a H4 visa stamped. They suggest that me staying beyond the expiry of my current H1B visa in the US would essentially mean I am overstaying my visa and will be a problem when I ultimately move to permanent residency.

I need advice here. Please help. Any advice will be appreciated.

My spouse was in same situation. As per our lawyer, according to the 'last action' rule, last/later action would be the start date of the new H4 (though approved earlier). The H4 starts on 6/25/2016. The 1 94 on on the h4 approval is the new one. When you go overseas next time, you need to stamp the H4.

Please refer to http://www. **** **.com/2016/06/02/t...re-start-date/. This link is for F1 to approved H1b later date, but has been applied to other scenarios too.

After our discussion with our lawyer, we are not going for stamping the H4 urgently but at a later date whenever we travel abroad.

Also, refer to this link https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1741

Let me know what you did.

[rdrp]

Hello fellow Immihelpers,

I am a physician currently working as a academic hospitalist at a major university hospital on H1B(stamped visa in 2014 valid until 6/24/2016) with approved i140. A change of status to H4 effective 6/25/2016 with an EAD under C26 category was approved Jan 2016 based on my H1B i94 May 2015 (last action taken, if you know what I mean). I happened to travel to India for 2 weeks and was admitted back under H1B in May 2016 (my new 'last action taken'). My university international office suggests that my COS to H4 may have been negated by the different 'last action taken' date and asked me to go out of the country to get a H4 visa stamped. They suggest that me staying beyond the expiry of my current H1B visa in the US would essentially mean I am overstaying my visa and will be a problem when I ultimately move to permanent residency.

I need advice here. Please help. Any advice will be appreciated.

My spouse was in same situation. As per our lawyer, according to the 'last action' rule, last/later action would be the start date of the new H4 (though approved earlier). The H4 starts on 6/25/2016. The 1 94 on on the h4 approval is the new one. When you go overseas next time, you need to stamp the H4.

Please refer to http://www. **** **.com/2016/06/02/t...re-start-date/. This link is for F1 to approved H1b later date, but has been applied to other scenarios too.

After our discussion with our lawyer, we are not going for stamping the H4 urgently but at a later date whenever we travel abroad.

Also, refer to this link https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1741

Let me know what you did.