Urgent H1 I-94 problem - please advise!

floyd777

Registered Users (C)
I am currently working for Company A. I have an H1 B visa and the validity date of the H1 B visa is from 10/07/2003 to 07/03/2006. I have an I-94 card with the I-797 Approval notice that is valid from 10/07/2003 to 07/03/2006.

Company B applied for this H1 visa as a transfer and application was sent on 10/07/2003.
At that time I was working at my previous employer Company A on an H1 B visa which was valid from 04/08/2002 to 03/31/2005.
The H1 transfer was approved on December 4th 2003.
At that time I had not decided if I wish to continue with Company A or start with Company B on their visa.

I went to India due to an emergency situation. I was still a valid employee of Company A on their payroll. I went to India and reached there on January 25th 2004. I re-entered the US on the valid Company A visa on February 09th 2004 and at that time I showed my Company A visa (which was already stamped in my passport from a previous trip to India in November 2002).

At the port of entry, the POE officer issued me a white I-94 card that was valid till March 31st 2005 which was the same date as my Company Avisa validity.
I came back to the US and continued working on Company A visa and after one week I decided to switch to Company B.

I asked my then lawyer if it will be okay if I travel on Company A visa even though I might join Company B after coming back. He said that it should be no problem because I had not made up my mind on whether to join Company B and I was not on their payroll and since I was an Company A employee I must travel only on that visa.

My last pay check from Company A was 02/15/2004 for the period between 02/01/2004 to 02/15/2004 (which means during my trip to India I was a valid Company A employee on their visa).
I joined Company B on 02/16/2004 and my first pay check from Company B was from 02/16/2004 to 02/29/2004. Since then I’ve been working for Company B.

I recently decided to join another company and decided to start the processing of an H1 transfer and they said that since the last action of USCIS was the issuance of the white I-94 card which was till 03/31/2005 (based on my Company A visa), I am out of status since then.
I do have the I-94 with the H1 approval notice of Company B valid till 07/03/2006 and all this time I was under the impression that this I-94 is the one that shows how long I can stay in the US. I just came to know this problem and I have been very nervous since then.

I've already applied for GC and everything except I-485 is approved (Eb-2, retrogressed country).

Am I out of status????

Please help me
 
I think you were supposed to surrender your I94 (w/ I797) when you departed in 2004. If you were supposed to do that, the answer is clear.... that I94 w/ company B is no longer valid and white I94 dictates your status per last action rule.
 
Regarding H1

But am I supposed to surrender the other I-94 with company B even if I had not joined the company. I can understand if I had started working with the company. I told the POE officer that I may plan to work for company B after I reach the US and I have an H1 transfer approved. He did not ask to see it and simply stamped my I-94 based on my passport stamp of Company A.

Is there any way I can rectify this situation through the local offices here?

Thanks
 
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