Her Story - My fiance's employment in USA was terminated yesterday :-(. Her H1B visa stamp in passport and I94 do not expire for another 1.5 years. Her employer has not revoked the H1B by contacting INS. Unfortunately she was not given any advance notice.
My Story - I am on H1B job, my employer is about to apply for renewing by H1B for another 3 years, in the next couple of weeks.
Our Story- We are both in US together in the same city, and would like to continue staying so. We are contemplating preponing our marriage plans, and get married here in US (may be next week?!?), so that then I can add her as a dependent on my H4 (at the same time when I app to renew my H1B).
The Problem - we are unsure of rules and regulations of INS/BCIS and would highly appreciate any help/advise/tips. We would like to do whatever it takes to continue staying together legally in US. Specific questions were:
a. it seems she would be out of status from the date her employment is terminated till the date her H4 is filed (~10 days). what are the repercussions of this now and in future? can she be considered illegal in US and be deported back? do we have time more than 10 days to get our act together?
b. another option seemed for her to apply for change of status to B1 (or is it B2) visitor visa. How long can she max get that for? what are primary advantages/disadvantages of this option versus going the H4 route?
c. which of the options (change to H4 vs change to B1/B2) would be optimal, if she had to get an H1B sponsored job in the next few weeks/months and had to change status?
Please feel free to advise on alternate routes for this particular situation. Thanks in advance for your help, and for reading this far.
-Both of us
My Story - I am on H1B job, my employer is about to apply for renewing by H1B for another 3 years, in the next couple of weeks.
Our Story- We are both in US together in the same city, and would like to continue staying so. We are contemplating preponing our marriage plans, and get married here in US (may be next week?!?), so that then I can add her as a dependent on my H4 (at the same time when I app to renew my H1B).
The Problem - we are unsure of rules and regulations of INS/BCIS and would highly appreciate any help/advise/tips. We would like to do whatever it takes to continue staying together legally in US. Specific questions were:
a. it seems she would be out of status from the date her employment is terminated till the date her H4 is filed (~10 days). what are the repercussions of this now and in future? can she be considered illegal in US and be deported back? do we have time more than 10 days to get our act together?
b. another option seemed for her to apply for change of status to B1 (or is it B2) visitor visa. How long can she max get that for? what are primary advantages/disadvantages of this option versus going the H4 route?
c. which of the options (change to H4 vs change to B1/B2) would be optimal, if she had to get an H1B sponsored job in the next few weeks/months and had to change status?
Please feel free to advise on alternate routes for this particular situation. Thanks in advance for your help, and for reading this far.
-Both of us