strange H1B situation

C

camacho59

Registered Users (C)
Hello all. I have a strange H-1B situation; hopefully someone who is/ has been in the same situation can help me.

I have been in the US since 1999 on a H-1B (non-IT job). For the last few years, I have been getting 1 year extensions of my H1-B (labor was filed in 2004). My company's lawyers last filed an amendment/ extension with the CSC in February 2007 for a change in place of employment AND extension of H1 through 2/2008. Since then, we have not heard anything back (almost 1 year). The lawyer's paralegal asks for an update from CSC every 60 days or so and the first few updates were, 'in processing, please wait 45-60 days'. However the last update we received (last month) said they were 'trying to locate the petition'. Has anyone ever had a similar situation where the USCIS 'lost' your petition and if so, what did you do about it?

My lawyers say I am still in H1 status because we applied for an extension before my current I-797 and I-94 ran out in November 2007. Do you agree?

Does anyone know what happens if the USCIS cannot find my petition at all?

Thank you for reading.
 
Miising Application

You should be fine if you have a receipt for your application.

My friends have been through missing application situations but not for so long. Send a an application with the letter from USCIS with a cover letter saying since you can't find my application, I am sending a copy for your convenience.

You might be eligible for a 3 year extention. Check into that.

Good luck
 
As long as you applied and have the receipt you are still in legal H status. However if something happens to it and it is not approved then you would have incurred illegal presence in the US from the expiration of the previous one.
 
update

for folks who might be interested...

after being given the run-around by CSC for several months since mid 2007, I finally contacted my congressman's office, whose staff promptly found out that the CSC had lost my H1 extension petition. I had the congressman's office resend a copy of the paperwork and I received my approval today (funny thing though, it is valid from 2/2007 to 2/2008). now i'm at the mercy of the VSC for my 2/2008 to 2/2009 extension approval, hopefully that one will be straightforward.
 
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