H1-B related

A

anisanis

Registered Users (C)
Hi

My status is as follows:

Officially I graduated with MS in Civil Engineering in May 2002. I am on OPT now and it expires Feb 14, 2003. My company applied for H1-B in September 2002 (H1-B will expire June 2004). It might arrive in Dec-January. Another point is I have multiple entry visa (F1) until June 27.

Now my questions are

1) Can I go to Mexico and return using F1 documents?

(**OPT expires Feb 14, 2003; Multiple entry F-1 visa until June 27, 2003)

2) Is it required to get my passport stamped even though I don’t want to go outside USA? (If required what is rule .. how long can I wait.. (**OPT expires Feb 14, 2003; Multiple entry F-1 visa until June 27, 2003))

3) I also want to start processing for Green Card. If I file for Labor and in the middle of labor if I decide to go outside USA (Bangladesh) .. do I need to take advance parole .. or follow H1-b procedure .. I mean background check from Bangladesh.

I apologize to ask you so many questions. But as things have got worse for non-immigrants, I just want to get the clear picture beforehand. Actually I almost messed up with these .. almost left USA for Bangladesh while my H1-B was under process .. Got help from this discussion board. Let me take this chance to express my gratitude to discussion board members.

Please help me out with some information. I appreciate your help.

Thanks
Anis
 
1. Not advisable. In fact travel outside US when a change of status is pending might mean abandonment of the change of status. However if you are allowed to retain the I94, then you should be fine, especially if the country of visit is Canada or mexico. Personally I will not reccommend travel.

2. It is better for you to get the passport stamped before OPT expiry date or after H1 approval date. If you ever leave US after H1 approval, you have to get a Visa stamp in the passport to enter back into US.

3. You can get AP only when you file for 485. So while LC is pending you have to use H1
 
Another issue (Jaxen Please reply)

Hi Jaxen

Thanks a lot. This discussion board has always been a great help for me. I just wanted to clarify couple more things.

1) My OPT expires Feb 14 and I filed H1-B Aug 15. Looks like California Service Center is taking about 7 months for H1 related things. In this situation I might expect H1-B in March 2003. Is it a problem as my OPT expires Feb 14, 2003? What should I do then?

2) Also If i dont want to go outside US is it mendatory to stamp my passport anyway? What I was thinking
-I will file my Labor soon will get approved sometimes in March 2004. At that time I will go to Bangladesh have background checked.. You know as these things take 6-8 weeks I dont want to bother my employer every year.

Thanks

Anis
 
1. U should be off the payroll of the company for the non status days/weeks/month
2. Yes, to enter back into US, U need a stamp, unless U have a AP.
 
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