Dear Mr. Rajiv and Forum members,
i am appreciative of the wealth of information contained in this forum. For the H1-B, there are existing questions on the FAQ (Ex: Q178) pertaining to the amount of time a person has to stay out of USA when he/she returns to India. "Any time spent here, will have to be subtracted from the one year". Also, a gentleman has raised a query about "1 year spent in Canada".
For the benefit of all of us, if you could kindly categorically answer it in a question aimed specifically for this, it would be helpful.
Here is the question and below are details pertaining to my case:
1) If a person leaves the United States before completing 6 years on his/her H1-B visa, and assuming the person has always been in valid H1-B status, when is he eligible to re-enter the United States ? Assume that he does not come to the United States even once for a year and stays in India after leaving the United States and has not travelled outside India for a year.
2) Would the unused time on the visa be considered as time spent outside USA and utilized for the purpose of determining date of eligibility ?
Specific details:
i entered US on August 13, 1997 for the first time.
i took 2 different vacations to India totalling 3 months, one in 1999 and one in 2000.
i left the US on April 23, 2002 for India and returned to India and have stayed in India since. i have not gone out of India since my return. Now, it is April 28, 2003.
My 6-year term and H1-B visa was valid upto August 12, 2003.
i was always in valid H1 status.
When would i be eligible to re-enter the USA ?
August 12, 2004 ? Or,
April 24, 2003 onwards ie. currently.
Also,
another Indian company has made a B1 Business Visitor visa in March 2003 for me to visit the US. it has an expiry date of Sept 2003. i have not yet been asked to travel to the US on that visa.
Would this B1 Business Visitor Visa be valid for travel to US ? i am under the assumption that since the B1 visa was made in March 2003, before completion of 1 year outside US, a new B1 or H1 stamped after April 23, 2003 would be needed for my travel.
i am appreciative of the wealth of information contained in this forum. For the H1-B, there are existing questions on the FAQ (Ex: Q178) pertaining to the amount of time a person has to stay out of USA when he/she returns to India. "Any time spent here, will have to be subtracted from the one year". Also, a gentleman has raised a query about "1 year spent in Canada".
For the benefit of all of us, if you could kindly categorically answer it in a question aimed specifically for this, it would be helpful.
Here is the question and below are details pertaining to my case:
1) If a person leaves the United States before completing 6 years on his/her H1-B visa, and assuming the person has always been in valid H1-B status, when is he eligible to re-enter the United States ? Assume that he does not come to the United States even once for a year and stays in India after leaving the United States and has not travelled outside India for a year.
2) Would the unused time on the visa be considered as time spent outside USA and utilized for the purpose of determining date of eligibility ?
Specific details:
i entered US on August 13, 1997 for the first time.
i took 2 different vacations to India totalling 3 months, one in 1999 and one in 2000.
i left the US on April 23, 2002 for India and returned to India and have stayed in India since. i have not gone out of India since my return. Now, it is April 28, 2003.
My 6-year term and H1-B visa was valid upto August 12, 2003.
i was always in valid H1 status.
When would i be eligible to re-enter the USA ?
August 12, 2004 ? Or,
April 24, 2003 onwards ie. currently.
Also,
another Indian company has made a B1 Business Visitor visa in March 2003 for me to visit the US. it has an expiry date of Sept 2003. i have not yet been asked to travel to the US on that visa.
Would this B1 Business Visitor Visa be valid for travel to US ? i am under the assumption that since the B1 visa was made in March 2003, before completion of 1 year outside US, a new B1 or H1 stamped after April 23, 2003 would be needed for my travel.