H4 pending approval and legal status of stay

[ravindran_eee]

Hi.. I work for Company A and was working on L1 visa. As I was reaching my max out period, H1 was applied for me earlier this year. My wife was with me on L2 and not working. So I had applied for her H4 also along with mine. I got my H1 approved (with effective date as Oct 1st 2011) in a few days itself. But until now the H4 is in "Initial Review" state itself. We did receive a receipt from USCIS that they have received the petition. My company's immigration team is saying that she is fine as far as legal status is concerned.

My question is regarding I-94. We both had valid I-94 until 2012 with our L1 and L2 visa. Now that my H1 is approved, I am assuming the previous I-94 is no longer valid. I have a new I-94 along with my H1 approval notice. How about my wife? What is her legal status now? Would it be considered that she is living in US without I-94 and hence go out of country within 180 days? (from Oct 1st) Or since the petition is pending, is her stay is legal without I-94? Please!!

[shervin143]

She should have received at least the receipt notice by now. Get you check her case status online? What does it say? She can stay in U.S based on a petition approval. But not without a receipt notice. The best option is to leave the country, get the H4 stamped and return back.

[ravindran_eee]

She should have received at least the receipt notice by now. Get you check her case status online? What does it say? She can stay in U.S based on a petition approval. But not without a receipt notice. The best option is to leave the country, get the H4 stamped and return back.

Hi.. We did receive receipt notice. Does it mean we don't have to worry about staying in US?

[shervin143]

If a receipt notice is already received and if it is more than 90 days past the receipt date, then you should take an infopass appointment with USCIS to discuss the case. Assuming the current I-94 has already expired, if the H4 gets denied, then all the time spend in U.S after the I-94 expiry date will be considered as illegal stay.
https://www.immihelp.com/infopass-ap...nt-with-uscis/