Visa extension

T

tilakramkafle

New Member
Hi, I am on a non immigrant US visa for 6 months. My return trip to nepal was on april 20 and unfortunately the flight was cancelled due to covid-19 issues. My visa expires on april 24th . Do i need to extend the visa through application in this case ? I havenot booked a new flight yet because I donot know the new date airlines reopen and it is not going to be anytime soon. What are the steps I need to take right now to ensure I don't get in trouble and penalties. Also , in case if i need to extend the US visa, is the fee waived?
 
tilakramkafle said:
Yes , I am in visitor visa b1/b2 and my i-94 expires april 24th. I am really confused as I donot know the processes of extending the visas.
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You file an i539, explaining the reasons you are asking for an extension, it costs $370 plus $85 for biometrics.
Information and form here https://www.uscis.gov/i-539
non-legalese user friendly info pamphlet here, suggest you read this first https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/C1en.pdf
Adjudication typically takes 4-6 months, don’t know how long it will take at present as the ASCs that do biometrics are currently closed.

(They may want to understand why you stayed past all the travel warnings, if your i94 expires in April you have presumably been here nearly 6 months?)
 
Hi, Thanks for your reply. I cannot file the form i-539 online because it is together with co-applicant( my spouse). And the office of USCIS is closed till may 1st, so it is not even possible to do it via mail. As said earlier my i94 expires on april 24th and my airlines cancelled my flight without any information of when they would reopen and allow me to rebook the ticket to later date.
It seems there is really nothing I can do this at point, and most likely to be questioned by uscis later for overstay and penalties/fines. I cannot find any information online about alternate ways for i-539 because of current covid-19 sitation. In some european and other countries they have automatically extended the visa for 90 days but I am sure US government hasn't done so .If anyone has further information , I would be grateful.
 
tilakramkafle said:
Hi, Thanks for your reply. I cannot file the form i-539 online because it is together with co-applicant( my spouse). And the office of USCIS is closed till may 1st, so it is not even possible to do it via mail. As said earlier my i94 expires on april 24th and my airlines cancelled my flight without any information of when they would reopen and allow me to rebook the ticket to later date.
It seems there is really nothing I can do this at point, and most likely to be questioned by uscis later for overstay and penalties/fines. I cannot find any information online about alternate ways for i-539 because of current covid-19 sitation. In some european and other countries they have automatically extended the visa for 90 days but I am sure US government hasn't done so .If anyone has further information , I would be grateful.
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you can mail it in. USCIS has staff working in non-customer facing positions. If you do not send it in and just overstay with no attempt to address that, your existing visa will be cancelled - you do NOT want to put yourself in that position, that will make it very hard to get a new one. Mail the form with return receipt.
 
SusieQQQ said:
you can mail it in. USCIS has staff working in non-customer facing positions. If you do not send it in and just overstay with no attempt to address that, your existing visa will be cancelled - you do NOT want to put yourself in that position, that will make it very hard to get a new one. Mail the form with return receipt.
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Thank you so much, for some reason I thought all the services were suspended. In that case, it seems I need to mail the forms ASAP. Also , do you think I would get accepted for visa waiver since it is not my decision that I have been forced to overstay ? Also by return receipt, you mean the return ticket that was cancelled?
 
tilakramkafle said:
Thank you so much, for some reason I thought all the services were suspended. In that case, it seems I need to mail the forms ASAP. Also , do you think I would get accepted for visa waiver since it is not my decision that I have been forced to overstay ? Also by return receipt, you mean the return ticket that was cancelled?
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I can’t comment on the likelihood of them accepting your reasons. ( I know a few people who cut their vacations short and left the US /left other countries to come back here when travel advisories started coming out in early-mid March, precisely to avoid the situation you found yourself in, USCIS may be lenient and forgiving with those who stayed past the advisories anyway, I have no idea how they will look at this.)

Return receipt is a postage service at the post office that means you get notified of when your packet was delivered and who signed for it - as proof of delivery.

At the very least by submitting the form you can get yourself into extension pending status which gives you breathing space. You may well find yourself leaving before you get a decision from USCIS (likely at least 4 months). Be sure in that case to keep documentation of both your application and your actual departure date as you will probably need it the next time you want to visit.
 
Hi team,

I have a valid H1b visa and I94 till Jun 3, 2021. My employer filed an amendment to the new client and this amendment got approved only till March 17th, 2020 which is the same date on which USCIS decision is updated.
Since it was a normal process it took 10 days to reach the I797 copy to my law firm. Once they received the copy on April 3rd,2020 they realized that the I797 approved with past dated.
Now my law firm is saying that since the latest petition is approved with less validity and I have not traveled internationally after my amendment petition is approved, they are saying my I94 is expired and am legally out of status and my employer is saying I should go on an unpaid leave till I get the legal status.
1. Can I travel outside and re-enter with my visa stamping on my passport which reinstates my previous I94?
2. During this corona situation, I am not sure can I go to any CBP land border to update my travel history?
3. The law firm is saying they will initiate NPT extension. How long will it take to process? can they expedite this case based on the expedited process option mention in the USCIS COVID-19 special situations?

My question, when I have valid visa stamping and valid I94 till June 3, 2020, am not sure why my law firm is saying that being out of status and my company stopped the payroll based on this situation.

Please suggest what options I have at this point, it will be a huge financial burden on me during this time without a salary to maintain my family. Can I ask my organization to take care of my financial burden during this COVID19 national emergency situation?

Any guidance during my tough situation will be a great help. Thanks in advance.
 
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