urgent - Did my wife lose her H1B status

Q

qwert1234

New Member
Hi, I don't know if I have messed things up. Here is my situation. I filed I485 in year 2001 with my wife(I am the primary applicant). Then last year I applied for EAD card as my employer did not want to renew my H1B(I still work for the same company). But my wife kept on working with her own H1B. I just wonder did my EAD invalidate her H1B status or not. And Her H1B is going to expire. Should she applied for a H1B renewal or should she apply for a EAD too.

By the way, my Green card application is really slow(Finger print expired and me and my wife has to redo it two months ago). So I really do not want to gamble getting GC approved before her H1B expired.

Any suggestion? Did she lost her H1B or not? Should she apply for H1B extension of a EAD card?


Thanks a million.
 
My understaing is that you should be OK. You wife has an independently approved H1-B which is not tied to yours. Your H1-B status became void as soon as you used EAD, but hers - being idependent - is not affected. If she was on H4, the situation would have been drastically different because H4 is an dependent status.
You may want to consult a lawer, but this all seems pretty straight-forward to me, so I don't think you have anything to worry about
Good luck
 
Re: GCApplcnt

Hi, GC, Thanks for your reply. I am refreshing the page every two minutes waiting for the reponse:) So do you think she should renew her H1B or apply for EAD. which is better choice?

Also I will consulte with lawyer later about this. Thanks again.
 
That's really up to you guys - both options are available to her. It all depends on minor details of your situation, but in most cases it makes very little difference. Some people prefer to use EAD/AP because that gives them freedom to work for any employer, some prefer to stay on H1-B to have something to fall onto if (god forbid) their I-485 is denied.
Also another thing to consider is that once you move to EAD, you are considered an "adjustee" and have to travel with AP. All AP holders go through secondary inspections, so if there has been any illegal presense in the past, it may come up and prevent the preson from entering the country.
Overall, if we are dealing with a plain vanilla "fully legal" 245(a) case here - which I'm assuming it is - it really makes very little difference.
I'd suggest applying for EAD/AP for her right away ( if you haven't done so ). Having EAD and using EAD are 2 very different things. If you have EAD in your posession, never use it , you can still be considered H1-B non-immigrant - it's using EAD/AP that matters, so by applying you are not loosing anything ( except money ).
If in doubt, consult your laywer.... but either way I think you guys should be OK
Good luck
 
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I concur on everything that GCAPPLICNT has said coz i have gone through this before.

Your best bet : Ask her company to renew her H-1 and continue using it for work and travel. But ALSO apply for her EAD as a "just-in-case she gets laid off". You will lose $88 but she will have a backup. Ask her NOT TO USE EAD or AP, that will nullify her H-1. This happened to me.
 
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