Important: travelling on EAD when H1-B petition is pending

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solvenjio

New Member
travelling on EAD whien H-1B petition is pending
I am currently working on my EAD (OPT - F-1 visa) and my H-1 B petition is pending.

My H1-B petition was filed on April 01, 2003. And my EAD card expires on August 22, 2003.

I am planning to travel to India from May 1 2003 - May 15 2003.

1) ** Is there any risk in travelling outside the U.S. when H1 B petition is pending?

2) Does the immigration officers in India give a real hard time for people coming back on EAD? Is it possible that they can stop me from coming back at all?

3) What happens if my H1-B gets approved while I am in India?

Any quick responses will be much appreciated. I just have few days to decide whether to go ahead or cancel my travel plans. Tha
 
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need AP

1.you need AP not ead for travel. If you dont have AP dont travel.
2. There are no US immigration officers in India as far as I know.
3. You can get h1 extension visa stamped in India with the approval notice or can enter US using AP and still can maintain H1. Can also send it to St.louis to get revalidation of h1 despite AP i94.
 
Thanks, jaxen.

AP won't come in for another month or so. Even if I go for premium processing, then it will take around May 15, 2003.

At this point, if I do travel then it has to be before May 15, 2003. (I can cut back my trip and return just in a week).

My lawyers told me that I can travel right now on my F-1 when my H1-B petition is still pending. And they seem to be pretty comfortable with this.

Are you sure that I cannot re-enter on my F-1 visa (say that I come back before my petition is approved)? My travel to India is really really important and I would like to go there if possible but at the same time I do not want to travel at the cost of my re-entry back here.

thanks again.

waiting for a reply..
 
no travel while change of status is pending

hi,

1) You can not enter on EAD; you still have to have a valid visa. Is your F-1 visa currently valid?

2) If you go out of country while your petition for change of status (from F-1 to H-1) is pending, the petition is automatically abandoned.

3) AP stands for "advanced parole" and is a paper you get for travel in early stages of processing for a green card. You won't get AP as a results of H-1 application.

4) Summing all of the above, you should not travel now; otherwise your H-1 application will get cancelled. You might be able to get back to F-1 status if your F-1 visa is still valid, but if the immigration officer at POE will see that you filed request to change status to H-1 they are likely to deny entry because of preconcieved intent.

5) Now, you should wait until your H-1 is approved. Even after then, if you want to travel, you will have to go to US consulate at home country (or third country, such as Canada) and get your new H-1 visa stamped to come back. (So many people do not travel at all after changing status from F to H or from B to H until their GC comes years later).

/dzxing
 
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That's not true.....

Once you get yr H1, you can always go to your home country and get H1 visa stamp. Though in the wake of Iraq war and new security checking at consulates, make sure all your papers are inline. You won't have problem.
 
I have a valid F-1 till 2005. By EAD, I meant OPT card.

I will have almost 4 months left on OPT and I have a valid F-1 visa. Then why can they stop me from re-entering?

I understand that my COS will be abandoned, but can't I re-file once I am here. Also, if they find out that I have applied for H-1, then also that does not count to permanent immigration, rite?

I just want to be sure that I can come back here on my F-1 without any substantial problems

Any thoughts......
 
COS abandonment

hi,

Disclaimer: all of this are my personal views and opinions.

2solvenjio: I would be very careful coming back on F-1 after you tried to change status to H-1. H-1 is considered semi-immigrant visa (you are allowed to have immigration intent on H-1, so you don't have to prove that you are non-immigrant). F-1, on the other side, strictly require non-immigration intent. I know of the case when F-1 was rejected to some Indian guy based solely on the fact that he had H-1 some ten years ago, so the officer ruled out that he had immigration intent and therefore is not eligible for F-1.

If they see that you attempted to change status to H-1, they are likely to question you very heavily at POE because every time you cross the US border on F-1 you should have in mind only F-1 stuff (e.g. no immigration intent, and no intent to change status). It is illegal to try to enter on F-1 already having in mind change of status to H-1. (That's why there is a 30-60 rule -- if you apply for change of status within 30 days of entering USA, the INS will almost certainly think that you had "preconceived intent", and if you apply from 30 to 60 days INS might think that, so several books I saw and a lawyer I talked with all strongly recommend NOT to apply for change of status within 60 days of entering USA). So if it will be obvious to inspector that you're entering on F-1 and plan to change to H-1, he will deny entry and send you back to home country to get H-1, because by all means you should be entering on H-1 if you want to work...

2h74shah: If you change from B to H (and I know some of these cases), then you're EXTREMELY likely to have significant problems in Moscow consulate (I'm from Russia) while getting new H-1 stamp, and US consulate in Canada doesn't even talk with you -- it sends you back to Moscow consulate saying that "your education records are in Russian language, only Russian consulate can evaulate them properly", despite having translations and evaluations of all transcripts. So several people I know learned from other's mistakes and sit back in US after change from B to H until AP. This is not likely to be a problem with change from F to H, though, you're right in that.
 
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