URGENT! Please help!! H1-B Stamp expiring in Jan and no appointments in Canada.

[abhattacharya08]

Hi.

I really need some help here.

My current H1-B stamp expires on Jan 4, 2017 and my wife's H1-B stamp expires Jan 10, 2017.
My extension has already been approved and my wife's I-539 to move to H4 has been approved too. We went to India recently and got new I-94s on way back. Now, our I-94s are expiring on Jan 14 and Jan 20 respectively.

I was planning on traveling to Canada and get new stamps and enter back US rather than traveling to India. But, now that I am about to get the dates, it seems there are no available appointments all across Canada before March 2017.

So,

- how can I avoid a trip to India?
- can I get my I-94 extended based on my I-797?
- can I my convert to H4 somehow so she could use her EAD?

Please help!!

Thanks,
Ani B.

[newacct]

Your extension of status was before or after your trip?

[abhattacharya08]

Your extension of status was before or after your trip?

Before the trip.

[newacct]

People on H1b and H4 should be admitted until the expiration of the H1b petition (plus 10 days), unless the passport expires sooner (in which case you are admitted until the passport expiration). When you entered, you showed the new H1b petition approval? They should have admitted both of you until the expiration of that petition, which should be in a few years. Did you check your I-94s? Is that Jan 2017 or Jan 2020? If they admitted either of you for a period shorter than your petition, they made a mistake, and you should have them correct it at a CBP deferred inspection office.

[abhattacharya08]

People on H1b and H4 should be admitted until the expiration of the H1b petition (plus 10 days), unless the passport expires sooner (in which case you are admitted until the passport expiration). When you entered, you showed the new H1b petition approval? They should have admitted both of you until the expiration of that petition, which should be in a few years. Did you check your I-94s? Is that Jan 2017 or Jan 2020? If they admitted either of you for a period shorter than your petition, they made a mistake, and you should have them correct it at a CBP deferred inspection office.

Thank you very much for the information. I sent the documents to Deferred Actions and waiting for a reply.

Now, my wife is currently on H-1B and she needs to move to H-4 to use her EAD. What is the easiest way to convert her from H1-B to H4? Can we travel outside the country and convert her to H-4 on our way back?

[newacct]

Oh when I first read this I thought your wife entered on an H4 visa. If she entered on an H1b visa then being admitted for a short time for her makes sense, since it is based on her H1b petition, which hasn't been extended. I don't know why you guys did that after changing to H4 status. She should have gotten an H4 visa. She either needs to go out and get an H4 visa and come back, or do a Change of Status again.

For you, though, the short period of admission is wrong, because it should be based on your H1b petition, which has been extended. So you should try to get CBP to correct it.