H1 6 years expired - NEED HELP!

[rigas]

My friend has the following situation. Any inputs from you gurus can help!

He came to the US, first, on 3/28/1998. He has been on H1 since then. His latest H1 was due to expire on 12/17/2003. His employer applied for an extension of his H1 in October 2003. (VSC)

Due to huge back-log and slow extensions' processing, he received his approved extension papers only today ie. April 8, 2004. (AD 4/1/04)

Now comes the caveat - His H1 extension has been approved only till 3/26/04 whereas he expected it to be somewhere around end of 2004. 3/26/04 is the date at which his 6 years' of stay has completed per his first entry into US. The fact that he was away from the US for a total of 400 days (not at a stretch) was not taken into account in the latest extension application.

Bottomline - he has overstayed (unknowingly) beyond his H1 expiry (3/26/04) as well as his pending H1 extension (4/1/04).

Need suggestion on any options that can be explored.
Can he file for an H1 extension?
Can he file for an amendment to his original application for H1 extension?
Can he file for an L1? etc......

Thanks.

 

[ginnu]

USCIS has many times denied the time to recapture that was spent out of US. I think your lawyer did not provide the passport pages that have his Entry stamps to US. Lawyer should have argued to recapture the 400 days that he spent out of US. You need to contact a good attorney for your options