Extension of H1B and H4 visa

[pinkish]

Hi,

I would just like to seek your help regarding our situation. My visa is expiring this Sept 2009 and my company already applied for our extension.

It says in the uscis website that it will take 2.5 months in vermont for our extension to be processed. some questions:

1. can my wife go home this october while still waiting for the extension to be approved?

2. if she gets approved while she's still outside US, would that be fine?

I would appreciate your help. Thanks.

[txh1b]

1. Yes provided an extension request was filed before the I-94 expires.
2. Yes, she needs to get a visa stamp and return.

[pinkish]

^txh1b:

we filed the extension last May 2009 and the visas are expiring this september 2009. Does that mean that we can go home this December eventhough the extension was not yet approved?

Really need some helpful information.
Thanks.

[txh1b]

H4 can go. H1 can too but to return, would need the approval papers and a visa stamp. I would not recommend travel for the H1b holder as it is risky if the approval takes a while. You can PP the case and hear about it sooner.

Read about "cloning" on the forum.

[pinkish]

^sorry for that. i am just desperate with how the processing time progresses.

i've read from some forums that it's okay to go home while extension of visa is under processing while others said that it's not advisable.

can someone please clarify then? is there someone here who has been to a similar situation?

we really want to go home this december but until now our petition for extension is still in progress.

thanks alot!