H1 extension and India trip - reentry

A

AndyNat

Registered Users (C)
Hello.
I have applied for H1 ext. with my current employer in June & I'm awaiting its Receipt#.
My current I-94 and visa expire end of August.
I intend taking a short vacation in August and return back ~ 5 days b4 expiry of my current I-94 and visa.

2 Qns:
1) Would you foresee any problems at Port Of entry in this scenario - i.e why am I entering back just for 5 more days of validity on my I-94.
If I do get my receipt # of the H1 ext b4 I leave, would that help? If for some reason, I dont have this receipt # yet, would that affect re-entry?

2)My consulting company is on the West Coast, but I plan to land in the east since my current client is on east coast. My 'home base' of sorts is in a 3rd location - South served by an international airport.
Is there a burden on my part to explain to the officer why I have arrived backon the east coast instead of my 'home base' or 'company base'?
Should I file for 'change of address' forms with INS before I leave?

Thanks!
 
Risks...

1. Generally if you travel out of US when a petition is pending with INS, that petition might be considered abandoned. But for H1 extension this is generally not a serious issue. Just make sure that your lawyer is also on the same page as you , in this regard.

2. Yes. Officers at POE might ask for LCA which should say that you are eligible to work in such and such metro area (in east coast). If you dont have one, get one immediately.
If you changed your address from the time H1 extension was filed you might want to file an AR 11. Once again consult your lawyer.
 
Pending h1 ext, travel. Thread continued as separate msg posting.

Thanks Jaxen for your clarifications!!

My lawyer's advise was NOT to travel (eventhough I will be re-entering 1 week b4 current I-94 and visa expiry) because in their interpretation, my pending H1 extension petiton would be cancelled. I have since postponed my trip.

As u had mentioned, I still am not convinced this is entirely true for simple H1-extension petitions unlike COS (I'm referring to INS memo June 18th 2001 by Thomas Cook), unless of course things have changed since this memo. However, granted there are other 'risks' on re-entry 1 week b4 expiry of visa and if the pending petition does get approved just a day or 2 b4 i re-enter, the POE could grant me just 1 week instead of basing it
on the newly approved stay extension.

Couple of related qns (also posted in detail as separate thread bcos of msg length constraints)

1)Change to H1 premium processing possible from normal processing?
2)H1 visa stamping in India - addnl. police report/address verifications??
 
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