L1 Blanket RFE review in progress

[s_1983]

Hi, I need some advice. Below is the sequence of events :

Visa expired in August 2013
Filed L1 extension in September 2013
I-94 expired in December 2013
Received a RFE in Feb 2014
Response to RFE submitted on May 2nd 2014
Our baby is due in mid July 2014

I seek advice on below :
1. Should I and my wife travel back to India in next couple of weeks (Because after that my wife will not be able to travel) ?
2. Should I and my Wife continue to stay in US untill a final decission has been made by USCIS ?
3. If USCIS Denies extension in late June or July, my wife will not be in a position to travel (because of her last month of pregnancy) - Can we get some special extension only for a couple of months based on my wife's Medical conditon and we can leave as soon as baby's passport is ready ?
4. When can I expect USCIS to provide me with a final decission on the RFE ?
5. Considering the level of scrutiny in L1 extensions, is a Premium processing recommended ? My HR says that going to premium in L1 B RFE will only result in RFE rejected earlier ?

P.S - My company has also files my H1B and awaiting to hear back from USCIS whether the application was selected in lotter or not. How can we leverage H1B if it gets selected in lottery ?

Any other advice is very welcomed...we are in a state of dialemma and need to decide within a few days which way to go.

[raghvi]

Hi, I need some advice. Below is the sequence of events :

Visa expired in August 2013
Filed L1 extension in September 2013
I-94 expired in December 2013
Received a RFE in Feb 2014
Response to RFE submitted on May 2nd 2014
Our baby is due in mid July 2014

I seek advice on below :
1. Should I and my wife travel back to India in next couple of weeks (Because after that my wife will not be able to travel) ?
2. Should I and my Wife continue to stay in US untill a final decission has been made by USCIS ?
3. If USCIS Denies extension in late June or July, my wife will not be in a position to travel (because of her last month of pregnancy) - Can we get some special extension only for a couple of months based on my wife's Medical conditon and we can leave as soon as baby's passport is ready ?
4. When can I expect USCIS to provide me with a final decission on the RFE ?
5. Considering the level of scrutiny in L1 extensions, is a Premium processing recommended ? My HR says that going to premium in L1 B RFE will only result in RFE rejected earlier ?

P.S - My company has also files my H1B and awaiting to hear back from USCIS whether the application was selected in lotter or not. How can we leverage H1B if it gets selected in lottery ?

Any other advice is very welcomed...we are in a state of dialemma and need to decide within a few days which way to go.

When you knew about pregnancy in Feb 2014 why did it take you over 2 Months to respond to the RFE, and why wasnt the processing upgraded to premium?

1. Honestly, its your personal choice.
2. Again , its a personal choice.
3. No special extension request, pregnancy is not a valid reason to stay in US neither does it allow any legality to your status.
4. If you upgrade to premium then within 15 days in no further RFE, else, no one can predict.
5. I do not completely agree with the HR, they may just be keeping you here to keep their billing going on.

You have to understand that your I-94 has already expired nearly 180 days back, if your L1 B is rejected all that period is considered as illegal and out of status. Depending upon what the RFE was and how convincing your RFE response was, if you feel you fall short of the requirements I would say you plan on leaving US to avoid jeopardizing your family's health as well as future immigration issues.

As for H1, if you havent heard yet from USCIS there is very high likelihood that you didnt make it through the lottery, even if by remote chance of luck you did, as your I-94 has expired its of no use unless the L1 extension gets approved first.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[s_1983]

Firstly - Thank you very much for addressing this post and getting back with a quick response.

Your query -When you knew about pregnancy in Feb 2014 why did it take you over 2 Months to respond to the RFE ?
Ans - In certain organizations like mine, it is a shared responsibility of the individual, HR and the attorney to provide a response to a RFE. I recommended to HR to provide a response as soon as we can but I guess, the kind of workflow and HR/attorney workload in our organization took this much time. It finally resides in HR hand when they submit it.

Your query - why wasnt the processing upgraded to premium?
Ans - Again, my preference was Premium processing but as per HR, there were already very bleak chances of approval. By submitting Premium, we are only forcing USCIS to deny it within 15 days. Can a Premium processing be done now (After submitting a response to RFE already? I can discuss with my HR again).

Your comment - You have to understand that your I-94 has already expired nearly 180 days back.
Question - Is the hard limit 180 days or Untill a final decission is made by USCIS (Which could be greates then 180 days) ?

Your comment - As for H1, if you havent heard yet from USCIS there is very high likelihood that you didnt make it through the lottery.
Question - Per HR, we did not received the package and application fee back either ? Does that mean there is still a 50-50 chance of getting selected in lottery ?

When you knew about pregnancy in Feb 2014 why did it take you over 2 Months to respond to the RFE, and why wasnt the processing upgraded to premium?

1. Honestly, its your personal choice.
2. Again , its a personal choice.
3. No special extension request, pregnancy is not a valid reason to stay in US neither does it allow any legality to your status.
4. If you upgrade to premium then within 15 days in no further RFE, else, no one can predict.
5. I do not completely agree with the HR, they may just be keeping you here to keep their billing going on.

You have to understand that your I-94 has already expired nearly 180 days back, if your L1 B is rejected all that period is considered as illegal and out of status. Depending upon what the RFE was and how convincing your RFE response was, if you feel you fall short of the requirements I would say you plan on leaving US to avoid jeopardizing your family's health as well as future immigration issues.

As for H1, if you havent heard yet from USCIS there is very high likelihood that you didnt make it through the lottery, even if by remote chance of luck you did, as your I-94 has expired its of no use unless the L1 extension gets approved first.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[raghvi]

Firstly - Thank you very much for addressing this post and getting back with a quick response.

Your query -When you knew about pregnancy in Feb 2014 why did it take you over 2 Months to respond to the RFE ?
Ans - In certain organizations like mine, it is a shared responsibility of the individual, HR and the attorney to provide a response to a RFE. I recommended to HR to provide a response as soon as we can but I guess, the kind of workflow and HR/attorney workload in our organization took this much time. It finally resides in HR hand when they submit it.

Your query - why wasnt the processing upgraded to premium?
Ans - Again, my preference was Premium processing but as per HR, there were already very bleak chances of approval. By submitting Premium, we are only forcing USCIS to deny it within 15 days. Can a Premium processing be done now (After submitting a response to RFE already? I can discuss with my HR again).

Your comment - You have to understand that your I-94 has already expired nearly 180 days back.
Question - Is the hard limit 180 days or Untill a final decission is made by USCIS (Which could be greates then 180 days) ?

Your comment - As for H1, if you havent heard yet from USCIS there is very high likelihood that you didnt make it through the lottery.
Question - Per HR, we did not received the package and application fee back either ? Does that mean there is still a 50-50 chance of getting selected in lottery ?

Well I do understand how the organizations work but after all its your family and your immigration status that gets affected, HR and the organization have hardly anything to lose. So you have to force your way. The application can still be upgraded to premium.

The Limit is 240 Days within which if USCIS doesn't reach a decision, you have to stop working.

As for H1, I believe most of the receipts are already dispatched by USCIS. So if your legal team has not got it yet the chances look much much lesser than 50-50. And as I said earlier, H1 petition approval would not change your legal status. You would be legal only after getting L1 extension approval.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[s_1983]

Thank you again raghvi !
Last question - Does the 180/240 days countdown start from the VISA expiry date OR the I-94 expiry date (These 2 dates were different in my case).

Well I do understand how the organizations work but after all its your family and your immigration status that gets affected, HR and the organization have hardly anything to lose. So you have to force your way. The application can still be upgraded to premium.

The Limit is 240 Days within which if USCIS doesn't reach a decision, you have to stop working.

As for H1, I believe most of the receipts are already dispatched by USCIS. So if your legal team has not got it yet the chances look much much lesser than 50-50. And as I said earlier, H1 petition approval would not change your legal status. You would be legal only after getting L1 extension approval.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[raghvi]

Thank you again raghvi !
Last question - Does the 180/240 days countdown start from the VISA expiry date OR the I-94 expiry date (These 2 dates were different in my case).

The 240 Days period starts from the I-94 expiry date.

This is my opinion not legal advice.