benefit of 7th yr. H1B extension vs EAD

A

arm5262

Registered Users (C)
Guys,
I am in a delima,,,,please help....

I am in a stage where I have the option of giving up the H1 status and start using EAD OR stay on H1 and keep working on H1 by filing the 7th year H1B extension based on pending I485.
Question is : Is there any bebfit of staying on H1B vs using EAD ? Also if my I485 gets denied, will it also invalidate BOTH h1B (extended) and EAD at the same time ?
 
If your 140 is approved and 485 is pending, applying H1B extension beyond 6 years limit is useless and waste of money. It won't protect your legal status in case of your 485 denial, because the H1B extension was granted based on pending 485(due to visa retrogression) only. However, if you are still with in 6 year H1B period, maintaning H1B status, is valuable and you can complete the 6 year term even if, 485 gets denied.

I am also in same situation and I or my employer do not want to sepend money on H1B. I would like to maintain EAD and AP till I get plastic card.
 
There is benefits to some people. If your spouse can not file I485 for retro, what are you gonna do with spouse's status. If you are single, and caught in retro, and need to wait for next 5, 6 years, in the meantime, you will marry, however, you can not bring your spouse here unless you have H1 status.
So extending H1 to 6, 7, 8th ... years is good to some people.
 
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arm5262 said:
Guys,
I am in a delima,,,,please help....

I am in a stage where I have the option of giving up the H1 status and start using EAD OR stay on H1 and keep working on H1 by filing the 7th year H1B extension based on pending I485.
Question is : Is there any bebfit of staying on H1B vs using EAD ? Also if my I485 gets denied, will it also invalidate BOTH h1B (extended) and EAD at the same time ?
Click to expand...

I would suggest to extend h1-b. If your extension was based on pening labor, denial of I-485 wouldn't invalidate h1-b (unless labor cert was bogus and rejected by USCIS). If your extension was based on approved I-140 (3 years extension), upon I-485 denial, h1-b extension is inivalidated.

In addition if you can file another I-140 (after denial) if you can use same labor cert.

There are different scenarios to consider. confirm with your lawyer about validity of h1-b based on pening labor.
 
Check out immigration-law website - there is one question pertaining to this

Check out immigration-law website - there is one question pertaining to this. It lays out the pros and cons.

But basically, if you are on your 7th year, it may be better to be on EAD.

Denial of I-485 probably results in cancellation of both H-1B/ EAD.

Regards
GCStrat :)
 
The good practice is if you are eligible for the 3 years H extension (with an approved I-140 and are subject to the per country visa limits), you can consider H-1B extension instead of the EAD; otherwise just file the EAD. If you have another 3 years H-1B, you, at least, do not have to file/extend the EAD 3 times. Moreover, if you know how to file the LCA (you can try it through your HR Fax machine), filing the H-1B extension is just a piece of cake, usually just copy the same info form your previous H-1B filing package. So, you save the legal fee, $500-$1000. Usually, the legal assistant just copies the previous filing package with the new LCA requested.
 
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