[urgent] Wife's grace period is over and COS sent to VSC instead of Lockbox

L

lepy23

New Member
Dear All,

Your opinion would be much appreciated for our following predicament:

i) My wife (originally F1, OPT STEM) was asked to wait by an employer for them to see if there would be any courses for her to teach. Therefore, although I was also an F-1, we waited until we heard from them before changing her status to F-2 as my dependent as her grace period would end soon.

ii) Just before her grace period ended, we had to file for her F-2 COS which arrived to VSC on July 29th. BUT, I inadvertently sent her application to VSC instead of the Dallas Lockbox (I am still trying to recover from that mistake!)

iii) Her grace period ended on Aug 1st.

iv) The new employer finally offered her the job and now HR wants to see the receipt from her F2 application (to make sure that she is not out of status during the application) to file H1-B with premium processing. She has to get her H-1B approval before Aug 25 (semester start date). Very little time remained!

v) NO RECEIPT! We sent emails to the Dallas lockbox and VSC. Also, tried to call the USCIS national call center, but we were asked to wait 30 days ?!?

Thanks for taking the time to read so far... Appreciate it! And my concerns I cannot seem to resolve are:

1) What happens to the applications that are sent to a service center (VSC) instead of a lockbox?
-We recently moved from Ohio to Texas. And, VSC seems to be dealing with Texas applications.
-The cashier's check hasn't been cashed yet.

2) If VSC rejects the application right off-the-bat, and return it to us, is she going to be out-of-status? Refiling to the correct lockbox wouldn't help as her grace period ended.

3) Is there a way to fill the H-1B form without this receipt (i.e., by writing "F-1 to F-2 COS is pending" to the area that says "provide the most recent petition/application receipt number"? Of course, "current nonimmigrant status" would need to be filled accordingly?)

4) Is it feasible for us to persist on the H-1B filing with premium processing as we don't have a receipt as of today and she has to start working on Aug 25th?

Thanks a lot for your time in advance!
Good luck to all...
 
...

In case someone is having a similar situation:

It appears that VSC forwarded the application to the Dallas lockbox. Then, the lockbox processed the application and sent it back to VSC (not very efficient at all, but this is how it went as far as I could figure out). July 30th was the date the courier delivered the paper application to VSC, the receipt number was both emailed (after lockbox processed the G-1145) and texted by the lockbox to the cell phone on Aug 7th. When USCIS website was checked on the day we received the receipt number (Aug 7th), it was seen that the application seems to have been received on Aug 2nd (not the original VSC delivery date of July 30th).

We were in a serious time crunch and have been stressed out for a week. Please, read the instructions clearly to avoid such problems. And, if you have even a little doubt please seek advice. Once it is out of your hands you have no control over anything!



lepy23 said:
Dear All,

Your opinion would be much appreciated for our following predicament:

i) My wife (originally F1, OPT STEM) was asked to wait by an employer for them to see if there would be any courses for her to teach. Therefore, although I was also an F-1, we waited until we heard from them before changing her status to F-2 as my dependent as her grace period would end soon.

ii) Just before her grace period ended, we had to file for her F-2 COS which arrived to VSC on July 29th. BUT, I inadvertently sent her application to VSC instead of the Dallas Lockbox (I am still trying to recover from that mistake!)

iii) Her grace period ended on Aug 1st.

iv) The new employer finally offered her the job and now HR wants to see the receipt from her F2 application (to make sure that she is not out of status during the application) to file H1-B with premium processing. She has to get her H-1B approval before Aug 25 (semester start date). Very little time remained!

v) NO RECEIPT! We sent emails to the Dallas lockbox and VSC. Also, tried to call the USCIS national call center, but we were asked to wait 30 days ?!?

Thanks for taking the time to read so far... Appreciate it! And my concerns I cannot seem to resolve are:

1) What happens to the applications that are sent to a service center (VSC) instead of a lockbox?
-We recently moved from Ohio to Texas. And, VSC seems to be dealing with Texas applications.
-The cashier's check hasn't been cashed yet.

2) If VSC rejects the application right off-the-bat, and return it to us, is she going to be out-of-status? Refiling to the correct lockbox wouldn't help as her grace period ended.

3) Is there a way to fill the H-1B form without this receipt (i.e., by writing "F-1 to F-2 COS is pending" to the area that says "provide the most recent petition/application receipt number"? Of course, "current nonimmigrant status" would need to be filled accordingly?)

4) Is it feasible for us to persist on the H-1B filing with premium processing as we don't have a receipt as of today and she has to start working on Aug 25th?

Thanks a lot for your time in advance!
Good luck to all...
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