TN to H1B

B

bayarea_dreamer

New Member
Hi,

To summarize my situation:

  1. I am currently on TN visa expiring in 2021, my company applied for H1b and I got the receipt that I got picked up in lottery. They will probably go via the premium processing option.
  2. My wife is working on her own TN visa for a different company, she is trying to switch jobs right now, for which she will need her own TN.
  3. I want to travel to Canada in early August and then to India in September.
  4. Both me and my wife are Canadian citizens but we were both born in India.

This is leading me to the following questions:

  1. Should I continue with my travel plans? I may have a pending/approved H1B application when I am planning to travel. Also the H1B status change will not get kicked in until Oct 1.
  2. If I get approved for H1B before I travel and my employer also applies for COS then I will also get an updated I-94. Should I tell the border agents about that I-94 during the travels or keep using the I-94 that I got for TN?
  3. I am assuming that if I travel after Oct 1 and then come back I will be able to use the new I-94 that gets issued.
  4. Will me being on H1B impact my wife's TN status now or in future in any way? Does being on H1B for me shows resident intent for her which might cause problems in future?
  5. If in future I apply for PERM and/or I-140 and it gets approved, does that show resident intent for me and/or my wife and can it potentially effect the TN status for my wife, especially if she asks for an extension? Or is the resident intent only shown when I file for I-485 (which will be many many years in future).
  6. If I do go for H1B now but do not file I-140, can I switch back to TN at a later period of time or will I have shown resident intent and spoil my chances of ever working on TN again?
 
1. I-129's are not impacted by foreign travel (unlike I-539), so travel at will.
2. If you get an H-1 approval with I-94, that instantly becomes your status on October 1, regardless of whether or not you travelled outside. That I-94 is meaningless until October 1 however. Only if you do NOT get an I-94, would you need to go to border AFTER October 1 to activate H1 and get an I-94.
3. As I said, on 10/1 that WILL be your I-94, it should then be in your passport.
4. H1 does not show immigrant intent, even for you, so has no impact on spouse. H1 allows for immig intent. Not the same thing.
5. There is a thread at the top of the forum that explains ALL these things.
6. See 4.
 
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