experts question for you.

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newhere3

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experts question for you - need your advise

I was not sure where to post this question but here it is.

I have H1B valid until next Jan 2004 (extension approved).
I also have my AP approved and have all the documents.

If I visit India, and say for some reason I get terminated from my employment during this time, what should I use to get back if I came to know in India that I got laid off and what will happen If I have no idea until I enter back that I got laid off.

Thanks for your responses in advance...
 
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visa and status are 2 different things in US. Visa determines legal entry to country, status determines legal stay in the country.

U can still use ur visa to get in, even after layoff, till the visa date is valid. As u have filed AOS, ur status would be pending AOS. However, take the AP with u just in case...

goodluck!

-ab
 
On the other hand, if you decide to use your AP for whatever reason to enter the country, that doesn't necessarily mean that your H1 is automatically invalidated. Only the use of EAD to gain or continue the employment makes a valid H1 invalid and not the use of AP. I am fairly confident about this but as always use caution and a qualified immigration lawyer's opinion in this regard.

P.S: I am no expert, just wanted to share the information I gathered on one of the reputed immigration attorney's website a while ago. I may be wrong, in which case feel free to correct me.

cmr
 
I think, if you know that you have been laid off and still use H1B Visa to enter, that would be illegal. Its a gray area if you do not know about it. But you can always safely enter on AP.
 
newhere3

I am pretty sure that if you use AP, then you are not on H1 anymore. It's always the policy that whatever visa or document you use to gain entry into the country, that is the status you are in. If you are no using H1 for entry, that means you are not on H1.

Coming to your question about getting laid off while in India, it is safe to use AP rather than H1.
 
Re: newhere3

Originally posted by gcard2002
I am pretty sure that if you use AP, then you are not on H1 anymore. It's always the policy that whatever visa or document you use to gain entry into the country, that is the status you are in. If you are no using H1 for entry, that means you are not on H1.

Coming to your question about getting laid off while in India, it is safe to use AP rather than H1.
Click to expand...
There is an exception to this for H1 holders. If you have a valid H1 approval and are not changing jobs you can continue to use existing H1 approval to continue employment even if you entered US using AP.
 
gcard,

I think you got that wrong. AP does not indicate one's legal status in the US. Its merely a travel document which one can use to enter the country in place of a visa, I repeat visa, not h1. The H1 petition(I-797), which is not a visa, should still be valid regardless of the fact that AP was used to enter the country, assuming the person didn't change the jobs and the approved h1 is not revoked by the employer.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

cmr
 
cmr, I agree with gcard. Once you use Ap to enter US, you are a "parolee". You are basically admitted in the US untill your I485 petition is adjudicated. You definitely loose your H1 status.

Whenever you enter using AP, at any port of entry you do not stand in the line for non-immigrants. In fact when my wife came in last, she was told to stand in line with gcard holders. This holds true for H1 holders too. If you use AP, you are admitted as a parolee.
 
i agree with cmr. h1 is dual intent visa. even if u use ur AP ur h1 is still valid as long as u r int he same job with the same employer. i just spoke to my lawyer abt this issue yesterday as i am leaving the country in a month for a month. also during this travel u r required to carry the receipt of pending i-485 which is required by law.




Originally posted by jaykarandikar
cmr, I agree with gcard. Once you use Ap to enter US, you are a "parolee". You are basically admitted in the US untill your I485 petition is adjudicated. You definitely loose your H1 status.

Whenever you enter using AP, at any port of entry you do not stand in the line for non-immigrants. In fact when my wife came in last, she was told to stand in line with gcard holders. This holds true for H1 holders too. If you use AP, you are admitted as a parolee.
Click to expand...
 
Interesting! As I said in my reply I may be wrong, though I still believe what I originally said is true. I would love to see more replies to this post, as this issue is important to several people here although many have already started using their EADs and dont worry about H1s anymore.

cmr
 
my 2c...

entering on AP does *not* invalidate one's H1 status. using EAD, on the other hand *does*.

while entering on AP *does* change one's status from "adjustee" to "parolee", but if you recall, adjustee/parolee status is/can be *parallel* to any other dual-intended non-immigrant status (e.g., H or L), but invalidates single-intended non-immigrant statuses (e.g., B).

in practical terms, being a parolee is not much different from being an adjustee, unless one is a national of a country subject to SR, when parolee status exempts one from SR, whereas adjustee status, in and by itself, does not.
 
my 2 cents....

After reading the link and post from porkchop and cmr , I am agree with them if it is really a Law. Technically I am not satisfied, since there are questions related to this,

H1B serves as Work Authrization and Travel Document but
in case of AOS , we should have EAD and AP respectively.

Now question is how come using one thing is invalidating your status and other not?

Both the things are related to AOS and carries the same A# When use any of them, we use A# associated with that and A# is associated with AOS.

If a person has valid H1B, he is supposed to use that for Work and Travel. But if he uses AP or EAD , he is invalidating H1B.

Now coming back to gcard2002's question.

1. He has not mentioned that after laid off does his company inform USCIS? My company does. So it will update INS records.
If not so he can enter on H1B.

2. If he has not crossed 180 days limit and his employer inform USCIS, his I 485 may be denied and so AP.
 
Re: my 2 cents....

H1B serves as Work Authrization and Travel Document but
in case of AOS , we should have EAD and AP respectively.


A minor correction, I-94 with H1b annotation issued by BCIS/immigration inspector serves as employment authorization. H1b visa serves as travel document.
 
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