Out of Status.

Roopa Prakash

Registered Users (C)
Hi, I am in weird situtation, When my husband changed the job, company applied for H1, since I was already here with my son, they didn\'t apply h4 for me. we didnot realise this till now. Now our GC is in final stage, we got rfe for H4 copies. Our lawyer thinks I will be out of status,and leave the country immiditely. Is any body out there had same situtations please respond. Is there any way where I can prove its our lawers mistake, not ours.Can I contact any body who could help me.
Roopa.
 
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My wife was in a similar situation. When I changed to my current job in 1997, my wife had a valid H-4 status which was supposed to expire in feb 1999. I told my lawyer to apply for her h-4 when i got my h-1. He argued that since she is my dependent and she had a valid h-4 at that time, I need not apply for her. Subsequently we forgot that her h-4 expired in feb 1999.(since it became out of sync with my h-1 expiry, we did not notice it). In march 1999, we noticed it by chance. Everyone (including Rajeev Khanna) asked my wife to leave the US immediately. My lawyer said that this is an honest mistake and asked us to apply for an extension. I attached a letter explaining the situation to INS and i was very up front about it. INS approved her H-4 status in 3 weeks. They not only approved, but they extended it from feb 1999 and my wife never went out of status.

Roopa, in your case I do not how know long you are out of status. Also in our case I had not applied for I-485 at that time. Do not go back to India. There will be problems when you try to get in. Try applying for your extension. Even if it is rejected, you have 6 months to leave the country. In fact if his approval comes before that you might have to pay 1000$ as fine.

Hope this helps. I know the frsutration and some tense time my wife and I went thru. Everything will be ok. Do not take any hasty decisions. Take time and think it over. And as always consult a good lawyer. Good luck.
 
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Thankyou for the response. Acc to our lawyer I am out of status from sep1996.Mean while his company bought over,and the lawyer who processed our H1 papers do not exist in the company.
We don\'t know what\'s gonna happen to my case. I have to wait till Monday to talk to our lawyer. We are very very tensed regarding this.
Roopa.
 
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I think your wife was able to get the H4 because if She was still
in the "grace period" which is I think about about 6 weeks.
I wonder if you have details on who can pay $1000.00 fine and have
the "out of status" closed. I thought it ended with 245(I).
thanks
 
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I am really not sure what your lawyer is talking about. If at the time of your I-485 application you had a valid H4 (including based on your husband\'s previous employer), you can not go out of status. You stay on legal status as long as your I-485 has not been adjudicated. If you have not worked without EAD or violated other visa regulations, you should be fine.

Just my opinion. Please do consult a good lawyer.

UncleSham.
 
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what could be so "private" in an open discussion forum. Please try to share your information with all of us. God will bless you.
 
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There is nothing private about the message. I thought she can discuss
the case more freely by sending private mail.
Well, here is the message: If her husband\'s priority date is before
Jan 14, 1998 then she can pay a fine of $1000 and submit 485 supplement and adjust the status. My friend did that and he did
get approval for his spouse. Usually the lawyer should be able find
the problem at the time of filing I485, not after receiving RFE. 245i
does permit submitting the fine along with the I485 application. If
one doesnot do that, it is left to the descretion of the processing
officer.
 
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Hi everyone,
Thankyou for all the suggestions.Since our PD is Aug 97, our lawyer applying for 485A along with $1000 fine. Hopw this will work out for us. I will keep you posted. Thanks again.
Roopa.
 
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