Travel Before H4 Visa Expiration

[svazarkar]

My wife has an H4 visa which will expire on Sep 30th 2012. She will be travelling to India in July 2012 and will be back by Sep 7th 2012. I will be filing for her extension as soon as she is back. I have checked with our immigration lawyer and they indicated there will be no issues with this. She will get a new I-94 valid till Sep 30th 2012 which we need to extend on her return. Just checking if anyone did something like this before and if there were any issues.

[mickey_mouse]

Generally speaking, your lawyer is right.

She may get a shorter stay if her passport is to expire before Sep 30.

She may also get a *longer* stay at POE. It *used to be* that CBP officers would only grant a length of stay *up to the H4/H1/L2/L1 visa expiration date* - but looks like as of lately (lately = last few years), they may grant a length of stay beyond the visa expiration date. Which has other issues associated - specially if you apply for a visa extension and is denied, and you want/need to change your status, long laundry list of special cases.

But in any case - she most probably will get 09/30 or beyond that.

[shervin143]

H4 I-94 will not be issued beyond the primary H1B holder's I-797 approval notice expiry date. There will be no need to file her extension if you have your H1B extension filed and approved before her return date. By carrying your extened I-797, she will get an I-94 matching your petition expiry date. If she uses your old H1B approval (Spet 30th), then she will get the I-94 only till that date and you will have to file her H4 extension when she is back in U.S.