Staying in US while H1b petition approved as overseas and L1 B extension in progress

[apatil]

Hi,

My I94 expired on 16-July-2013 while I was on L1b status. My company has filed extension on 15-July-2013. I received a RFE. The extension is in still process.

In the mean time, my company had file H1b as overseas notification. My petition got approved.

My Questions are:

1. After my L1b extension is rejected (which is highly possible these days.); do I need to go back to India and go for H1b stamping to return to US? Or Can I continue to work in US as long as my h1b petition is valid?

2. If answer to question 1 is "Yes", will the L1b extension rejection may affect h1b stamping?

Thanks in advance.

[raghvi]

Hi,

My I94 expired on 16-July-2013 while I was on L1b status. My company has filed extension on 15-July-2013. I received a RFE. The extension is in still process.

In the mean time, my company had file H1b as overseas notification. My petition got approved.

My Questions are:

1. After my L1b extension is rejected (which is highly possible these days.); do I need to go back to India and go for H1b stamping to return to US? Or Can I continue to work in US as long as my h1b petition is valid?

2. If answer to question 1 is "Yes", will the L1b extension rejection may affect h1b stamping?

Thanks in advance.

Seems your L1 to H1 was filed as consular process, that means even if the petition was approved your status didn't change from L1 to H1. So yes, if your L1 extension is rejected, in order to move to H1 you would have to go out of US , get H1 stamped and return on H1. L1 extension rejection doesn't generally have a negative impact on future H1 as long as L1 was not rejected for fraud.

This is my opinion not legal advice.