H1 Extension Passport Expiring

[happygolucky]

Hi Friends,

My current H1 expires on Oct 20th. My employer has already filed for a 3 yr extension (my I-140 is approved). Now my passport expires on March 12th. My question is will my new H1 be valid till passport expiry or for 3 years? Also what will be the expiry date on the I-94 portion at the bottom of the new petition? And more importantly, if I-94 is only till passport validity, then how do I get it extended after I renew my passport? I do not want to go out and re-enter since my visa has expired and I do not want to go through restamping.

Thanks in advance.

[shervin143]

Passport expiry date will not have any impact on the petition extension. As long as your passport is valid, the petition will be extended as per the project itinerary provided by the employer. The petition will not be blindly extended for 3 years. The officer who handles your extension need to be convinced that your employer has a job available for the next 3 years to extend the petition for 3 years. The petition expiry date and the I-94 expiry date will be the same. The problem that you are mentioning with the passport expiry happens only when you go for visa stamping where the VO may issue you a visa only till the passport expiry date.

[happygolucky]

Thanks for the reply. But there are many places in the internet forums where people are saying that there should be atleast 6 months remaining in passport for H1 extension. Are those all rumors?

[shervin143]

It totally depends on the officer who handles your case. There are so cases where the extension was granted without any issues with a passport that is expiring in less than 6 months. However, if you are concerned, then apply for the passport renewal and then file the extension. It will hardly take 3-4 weeks to get the passport renewed.

Thanks for the reply. But there are many places in the internet forums where people are saying that there should be atleast 6 months remaining in passport for H1 extension. Are those all rumors?