7th year H1 extension and marriage?

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Hi, my 6 years of H1 will be expiring in Jun'04 and I am applying for my 7th year H1 extension next month. Only, I am planning to get married in Sep' 04 and was wondering if anyone knew about whether the US consulate in India will issue a H4-visa to my wife when I am on a 7th year H1?

Thanks

 

[ginnu]

They will issue H4 to your spouse if you are on 7th year H1 or 8th year H1 and maintain H1 status

After you get 7th year H1 approval in hand then better get your H1 visa revalidated from DOS in US. I don’t know when you will get H1 extension approval in hand, DOS in US is taking more than 3 months to get Visa revalidated in US once you get extension approval then think if you can get your passport from DOS with Visa stamp or get Visa from consulate when you go out

 

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Follow-up questions

Hi Ginnu, thanks for the information. I forgot to mention that when the INS approved my last visa extension at the end of 4 years of H1, they actually extended it by 3 years instead of the remaining 2 years. After that when I got the visa stamped on the passport by DOS, they went ahead and issued a visa stamp with validity till Apr 2005, even though my six years on H1 actually end in June' 2004 ( I started on H1 in Jun '1998).

So, even though I haven't yet applied for my 7th year extension, I already have a valid H1 approval and visa stamp that is good into the 7th year. Now, I know that even in this case it better to apply for 7th year extension, because H1 rules limit "normal" validity to 6 years and as I mentioned I am going to be applying for that next month. However, once I get approval for my 7th year H1 extension, I was wondering if DOS will stamp my passport with a new visa again .....or will it say that I already have a valid visa stamp until Apr 2005 (based on the earlier visa stamp) and therefore I don't need a new stamp? I am asking this question because I have heard that DOS does not issue a stamp unless the earlier visa stamp has expired/ will expire in the next couple of months. If they say I don't need a new stamp, then can I travel out of the country on the old stamp (which is valid until Apr 2005) and will my wife get a H4 based on that visa stamp?

Thanks,