Hi Jaxen,
on subject of AP, had a question... my wife and i have never been out of status in the US. our last H-1B/H4 extension expired in August 2007 and we have applied for another 1-year extension. while this is still pending, we received EAD & AP for both of us, valid through next August.
We want to travel to India in December. Before posting (and consulting the experienced members) on this forum, i emailed my lawyer about it, and she replied as follows
If he leaves prior to the approval of the H-1B/H-4 Extension both will be considered abandoned and denied. However, since they both have valid advance paroles and EAD card they can forego their H-1B/H-4 status and use the advance parole and EAD card to work and travel.
If they can wait it is best to travel after the H-1B/H-4 extension is approved and apply for the H-1B/H-4 visa stamps so they will have an underlying H-1B/H-4 status.now, while we can hope for the approvals to arrive before December, since we have APs, we don't want to go to the consulate to get H visas stamped again... this is a huge pain. Also, in spite of EAD/AP, would we have trouble at re-entry because we had valid H approvals and did not get H visas stamped? to which she responded
If they enter the US using the APV they will no longer be in H-1B/H-4 status even with H-1B/H-4 Approval Notices.
So my question to the forum is, is that correct? of course we don't want to lose our H status (invaluable backup in case 140 gets rejected). I read many posts here about people re-entering using AP... of course they would be also on some non-immigrant status at the same time, if i am not mistaken..? In other words could we not re-enter with AP and have the H approvals (not visa stamps) as backup when we are here?
thanks for your patience in reading and i'll look forward to replies.
on subject of AP, had a question... my wife and i have never been out of status in the US. our last H-1B/H4 extension expired in August 2007 and we have applied for another 1-year extension. while this is still pending, we received EAD & AP for both of us, valid through next August.
We want to travel to India in December. Before posting (and consulting the experienced members) on this forum, i emailed my lawyer about it, and she replied as follows
If he leaves prior to the approval of the H-1B/H-4 Extension both will be considered abandoned and denied. However, since they both have valid advance paroles and EAD card they can forego their H-1B/H-4 status and use the advance parole and EAD card to work and travel.
If they can wait it is best to travel after the H-1B/H-4 extension is approved and apply for the H-1B/H-4 visa stamps so they will have an underlying H-1B/H-4 status.now, while we can hope for the approvals to arrive before December, since we have APs, we don't want to go to the consulate to get H visas stamped again... this is a huge pain. Also, in spite of EAD/AP, would we have trouble at re-entry because we had valid H approvals and did not get H visas stamped? to which she responded
If they enter the US using the APV they will no longer be in H-1B/H-4 status even with H-1B/H-4 Approval Notices.
So my question to the forum is, is that correct? of course we don't want to lose our H status (invaluable backup in case 140 gets rejected). I read many posts here about people re-entering using AP... of course they would be also on some non-immigrant status at the same time, if i am not mistaken..? In other words could we not re-enter with AP and have the H approvals (not visa stamps) as backup when we are here?
thanks for your patience in reading and i'll look forward to replies.