L2 ext RFE and H1B valid from Oct08

[samoldtrafford]

Hi,
My H1B got approved and is valid from Oct 2008. My husbands company has filed for his L1 and my L2 extension and USCIS has send an RFE yesterday as per the case status online. We have the L1 extension receip which my husbands company gave us but we havent yet received the L2 extension receipt either from the company or USCIS.
1)Does L1 and L2 extension have same receipt number or different. If different will they be send to same address or different? My husbands company claims that they have received only his receipt number.
2)I guess if my L2 extension gets approved after Oct 1st 2008 my H1B will become invalid due to last action rule. Is there a way to save my H1B?
3)If my L2 extension is still pending on Oct1st 2008 can I revoke the extension. But the problem here is we havent received my receipt number yet and we are not sure if it was a joined petition.
4)If the L1 and L2 extension was filed as a joined petition, can I revoke L2 extension without affecting the L1 Extension petition?

[txh1b]

1. Different receipts will be sent to lawyer on record/employer.
2. H1b will not become invalid. Just your status will not be H1b. You can have the H1b employer file for an amendment or travel back again on H1b visa to get back on H1b status.
3. There is no joint petition. Revoke might not get processed on time and still impact your H1b.
4. No joint petition. L1 is on I129 and L2 is on I539.

[samoldtrafford]

Thank you for replying the questions. It was very helpful. Since I am new to all these I do have some more questions:
1) So the employer/lawyer who filed my L2 extension should have my receipt.
2) Could you please explain a bit more on this. I thought if my L2 extension gets approved after Oct1st 2008 my status would be L2 and not H1B. Hence to make my status H1B my employer will have to file H1b again and go through the lottery process and all.
3)Revoking the L2 petition after Oct1st can still take lot of time and hence there is a chance of L2 ext getting approved before revoking the L2 petition and hence my H1B will be again affected right?
4)Could you please explain your comment a bit more:You can have the H1b employer file for an amendment or travel back again on H1b visa to get back on H1b status.

[txh1b]

1. Yes
2. No need for a new lottery and all. Just an amendment would do.
3. Yes
4. If your last action happens to be L2, when you are ready to be on H1b, either have your employer file for an amendment to COS from L2 to H1b again and wait till it gets approved to begin work on H1b. You can also use L2 EAD to work. It is not a big deal for you. The other option is to get a visa stamp and enter on H1 by means of travel. The last action will be H1 in both cases and will give you that status.

[samoldtrafford]

thanks for the reply again.
My main aim is to work on H1B from Oct1st 2008 so that I wont have to depend on my husbands company always and get back to wokr asap. My L2 EAD has also expired and I can apply for new EAD for L2 only after my L2 extension gets approved.
Current status on L1 is RFE and L2 we are not sure as we dnt have the receipt number yet though both L1 and L2 extension were filed by the employer simultaneously.
Also I have heard RFE takes lot of time (Around 6 months) to get approved. Is there a provision for premiun processing once we get RFE??
All this being said to retain my H1B status from Oct1st 2008 I have 2 options:
1)Amendment to cOS : I am hearing abt this for the first time.
a)Who does this? Employer/me?
b)When should this be done? before or after Oct 2008 or after L2 ext gets approved after Oct 2008
c)How much will this cost?
d)how long will this take?
2)Travel to India and get back to US after stamping H1B visa.
a)If I travel to India will my L2 ext petition become invalid?
b)Which option would you recommend will be better?

[txh1b]

Do some reading on the forum on same/similar topics and come back with more questions, if any.

[samoldtrafford]

Hi,
My L2 expired on July1st 2008. My H1B is approved from Oct1st 2008. L1 extension for my husband is RFE. L2 extension for me which was also applied simultaneously with L1 hasnt even yet received Receipt notice.
1)Can I go to Canada and stamp my H1B visa since I am out of status. I read that if you are out of status you need to go to the country where u r a permanent resident for stamping. Is it so?(I am an Indian citizen)
2)Amendment to COS is applied by employer and can be PPD.But when should Amendment to COS be done in this case? How much will it cost for the amendment (excluding the PPD cost of 1000$)?
3)The RFE on L1 can be PPD but my husbands employer would not do it. But my employer's lawyer is asking me to PP L2 extension(for which I dnt even have receipt number and do not know the status).The lawyer said I could PP only the L2 ext online.Is that possible?
4)If my L2 extension gets rejected after Oct1st 2008, what will be my status?Will my H1B be still valid and can I continue my stay in US OR do I need to stamp my VISA?

[samoldtrafford]

Please help.....

[txh1b]

1. That is true. But you can try Canada. You are not out of status if you have a pending L2 application that was applied before the I-94 expired.
2. Whatever the cost of I129 filing is. You can do it now as the effective start date will only be Oct 1st.
3. L2 extension is on form I539 and cannot be PPd separately. L1 has to be PPd and L2 automatically gets faster processing. The employer need not pay for PP. You can choose to pay the extra $1000 and get the employer PP it.
4. Out of status with unauthorized presence. H1b is valid but not the COS. You need a H1b stamp and re-enter with a fresh I-94 for your own future benefit during GC.

[samoldtrafford]

Thank you for replying. I really appreciate it.
You had informed that amendment to COS can be done now.But even if I do that now, I can start working on H1B only after Oct1 2008 and it wouldnt cancel out my L2 extension petition right? Hence I can still be in L2 if my L2 extension gets apporved after oct1 2008. Or can I work on H1B before Oct1 2008 if amendment to COS gets approved right away?
I thought I should be doing the amendment if my L2 gets approved after Oct1 only..

Is amendment to COS OR H1B stamping from canada(can re-enter only after Oct1 2008) OR H1B stamping from India, the best option for me to start working in H1B asap..

[txh1b]

Your status is governed by the last action rule.

If a COS to H1b is approved today with a start date of Oct 1st, the last action effective date would be Oct 1st. You would remain on current status until Oct 1st and will be on H1b starting then and have to be working and get paid from that day.

If your L2 petition gets approved after Oct 1st, you would have to file for an amendment as that will become last action. It is never a good idea to have two petitions pending with USCIS as you may lose a status that you want to be in due to last action rule.

H1b Stamping is a quicker option than amendment as you can begin work soon after entry while you have to wait for amendment COS to be approved to begin work.

[samoldtrafford]

Thank you again.

One last question:
Is amendment to COS OR H1B stamping from canada(can re-enter only after Oct1 2008) OR H1B stamping from India, the best option for me to start working in H1B asap..
Could you please help me decide on the best option in my case.

Note: I will be applying for amendment only if my L2 extn gets kicked off after Oct1st 2008 per your advice.

[txh1b]

You have been told what is best earlier. Rest is your choice. You can enter after Sept 21st with a H1b stamp.

[samoldtrafford]

oops! sorry for that.....
I was planning to ask H1B stamping from Canada OR India?
My employer said lot of petitions in India are getting pending administrative procces 221-g) it seems in India and they preferred canada.
But since my L2 is expired from July2008 and L2 ext is pending I can go for stamping to canada only after Sept 20 and re-enter US only if I get my stamping. If my stamping gets rejected I will have to go back to India from canada.

[txh1b]

Talk to your lawyer.