H1-Extension

A

anon7

New Member
Hi there,
I had almost completed 5 yrs of my H1. I landed in the US in Oct '97 but my visa and H1 expiration date is March 2003. How long I'm legally eligible to stay in the US. Can I get any extension, if so what are the criteria to get the same. Meanwhile I'm planning to switch company, can I? Can anyone advise?

Thanks,
 
Well as I understand it, you cannot stay in the country legally without an extension and your eligibility period is 6 years without the extensions.
As for extensions, my understanding for those is that you can apply for an extension if and only if you have filed for a labor certification which is older than 365 days and you have applied for I-140 (the second part of the green card process).
Switching to another comapny would have to be a personal decision which I can comment on.
Anyways, hope this helps. Good luck with everything.
Regards,
eeforg
 
Anon7

After coming to US, u must have applied once for the extension for H1-B. What does your approved I-797 say's. Look for "VALID FROM" in I-94 section in I-797, that will tell u how long u can stay.

Regarding H1 extention for 7th year, u better hurry. You don't have much time left. You can switch company but try to switch to a company who can assist you in GC process and also if that company is located (or has office) in area/region where Labor Certification is fast...

Good Luck.......
 
You can stay upto approx oct'2003 with h1-ext using 6 year limit.
For 7th year ext. you need to follow the instruction mention by eefrog and usnycus. But you need to file for extetnion from march to oct'03. If you have lawyer that's great. other wise you can file by yourself.

http://www.us-immigration.com/employment/index.html

I hope this will help.

I think you are in wrong forum, you need to go post your questions in h1 visa forum.

thanks,

JB



Originally posted by anon7
Hi there,
I had almost completed 5 yrs of my H1. I landed in the US in Oct '97 but my visa and H1 expiration date is March 2003. How long I'm legally eligible to stay in the US. Can I get any extension, if so what are the criteria to get the same. Meanwhile I'm planning to switch company, can I? Can anyone advise?

Thanks,
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the response!!
Hi Usnycus,
The I-94 form says it is valid upto March 2003. How about if I find some company in Delaware and file for GC in case i am switching. Have any one recently filed in Delaware and got their labour cleared? I have one more question, as mentioned by eefrog, for getting extension, should i have filed for labour more than 365 days earlier and applied for I140 or just applying for I140 is enough ( my current employer has filed for labour in Dec 2002) is there any way i can use this one for getting extension (even if I'm with new emloyer). Your response is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Anon7.
 
Anon7

If your I-94 say's "March 2003" then u can stay up to that time provided you are still employed by that same employer.

Regarding getting Labor approved from Delware: I don't know how much time local SWA is taking to process LC application but I am pretty sure Phily Regional Office is taking around 3 months to process the application. So u won't be able to use that option as it might take more than March 2003 to complete and get approved LC. (see note from eefrog)

If your current employer has approved LC and u can fit in that skill/qualification, go fot it. U don't need to worry about extension on H1 as you will be sending I-140 and I-485 together. Your pending I-485 will help you in maintaining the status.

Good Luck....
 
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