Legal status for H4

[Techie_ssp]

I am holding H1B
I-94 and H1-B expired on March 20,2002
Applied for extention February 20,2002 for extention for H1 and for H-4 extention for spouse and a child
Attorney received approvel for my H-1 extention on March 29,2002.
I received courtsey copy from INS stating approval of H-4 for my spouse and child for next 3 years on March29 stating that the original is being sent to my attorney.

I've called attorney to send me a copy of H-4 extention several times, they said they will send it to me.Months passed, they never sent me a copy.

I Called yesterday and told them I need it for revalidation of my visa and they've told me that they have never received from INS.INS website online status says that it was returned undeliverable and was distroyed. We need to file again for h-4 Extention.

Talked to immigration officer on national customer service and asked about what is the legal status of my spouse and a child, she said that they have not violated their status as it was approved, but we will have to file again to get the original.

wondering if this happened to anybody ? BTW, it was my fault that I've never checked the online status for them on the website assuming that my attorney must have received the original copy since it was stating that into the courtsey copy I have received.

 

[jaxen]

You CAN apply for revalidation with the courtesy copy. Why did you not try it?
Meanwhile, You can also ask for a duplicate copy (File I824) to get another version of H4 approval. Ask the lawyer to pay for the expenses.

I dont understand the logic of waiting for all these 9 months to post this Q, but expect answers in a few days

 

[Techie_ssp]

You CAN apply for revalidation with the courtesy copy. Why did you not try it? You CAN apply for revalidation with the courtesy copy. Why did you not try it?

Because the courtesy copy says that it can not be used in lieu of the original document.

Meanwhile, You can also ask for a duplicate copy (File I824) to get another version of H4 approval. Ask the lawyer to pay for the expenses.

I can not file for I824, because local INS office said that since it was undeliverable and we did not follow up for this long they have destroyed the original so we have to file for new

I dont understand the logic of waiting for all these 9 months to post this Q, but expect answers in a few days

That's because the ignorant lawyer never told me that they never received it.Everytime I asked for the copy his paralegal told me that she will send it to me and she never did. Finally, when I got upset and told her to send it to me rightaway because I want to apply for revalidation, she told me that she has never received it. It appears to me that she also did not know that she never received it, or overlooked it. And from my part, I never thought of about the possibility of them not receiving it since it stated on my copy that it is being sent to my attorney. I don't know where INS sent it to and it returned undeliverable.

Folks, this is what happens when these so-called big lawyers handles your case,they messes up with your case and life to the extent that you are halfmad and want to kill your self for leaving your own country for nothing.

 

[Jim Mills]

Even if you can apply, and do receive, visa revalidation, SO WHAT? You need to have a valid (unexpired) I-94 to prove that you are legally in the US.

The attorney needs to call INS, speak to an IIO and have them send a duplicate to the correct address. There's no way around this and it may even be necessary to submit form I-824 but you want to avoid that if possible since it will result in significant delays INS sometimes will just send out a duplicate since the original was returned. INS may have the wrong address in their records for your attorney. It could be the result of a typographical error when they typed the forms or an error by INS when they entered the information in their system. Whatever the cause, you need to get them to send a duplicate.