can beneficiary/employee withdraw petition

USA H1B Visa
1

hi Saurabh,

yesterday i attended for visa stamping interview at hyderabad.

its an inhouse project and employer has <100 employees in US.

The visa officers are not convinced on the employer and project details.

Finally they had give me 2 options

  1. we are not satisfied with your case, our counterparts in US will visit office and verify project details which could take around 6 to 8 months, if anything found wrong you may be banned from entering US permanently on any visa f1/b1, no action will be taken against employer as US laws will not permit this.

  2. you can withdraw your application now, so that there will be no effect on you in future and you can search for new employer and file petition in next year quota.

they havent given me any time, asked me to decide then itself.

fearing of permanent ban i decided for option 2

where i signed on a printed paper filling my name, employername, receipt number that i am withdraiwing the petition.

Now my questions are

  1. can i being a beneficiary/employee can withdraw the petition? is it true that there can be a permanent ban, i shared only the documents that the employer used while applying petition.

  2. now what happens to that petition, they say i cannot re use it, is that correct?

  3. my employer says consulate can verify the project details. they are ready to share

now can i revoke the previously signed withdraw form ?

2

I have heard similar cases before as well about Hyd consulate. Then, they used to ask the interviewee to sign a document stating that whatever they have stated is truthful and they are liable for any lies said during the interview. Seems like they are going one step ahead now.

  1. I don’t think you can withdraw the petition. You can withdraw the interview request, but cannot withdraw the petition. Only petitioner can do that. What can happen in this case is that consulate will send the petition back to USCIS for possible revocation along w/ their reasoning

  2. It’s outside consulate’s purview to withdraw the petition. USCIS will do that, which can take few months. Even then they should issue NOIR (notice of intent to revoke) to employer and give him time to respond. I would suggest going for another petition and not use it for now as another stamping through same petition will meet similar fate.

  3. You cannot withdraw it now. Your employer should file a cap-exempt petition using copy of previously approved petition. You can then appear for stamping through new petition and then see how it goes.

If your employer has an attorney, you can talk to them as well.

3

Thanks saurabh for the reply.

i have written something like this and signed
I would like to withdraw my H1B Petition (I-797 Receipt number:------) filed by Employer –

and now case status show this
U.S. Department of State
NONIMMIGRANT VISA APPLICATION
Administrative Processing
Application ID or Case Number: AAXXXXXXX
Case Creation Date: XX-Jan-2013
Status Updated Date: XX-Jan-2013

Your visa case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing. This processing can take several weeks. Please follow any instructions provided by the Consular Officer at the time of your interview. If further information is needed, you will be contacted. If your visa application is approved, it will be processed and mailed/available within two business days.

i wasn’t given any slip during interview

can you please let me know your thoughts on the above statements?

what is that withdraw i have done? what is difference b/w withdrawing visa application and petition?

4

What I meant is that you can withdraw your visa stamping request, but you cannot withdraw the 797 petition. The employer can do that, but not you. But in your case, it seems most likely it will be sent to USCIS for revocation by the consulate.

Do you have an attorney?

5

currently we dont have an attorney, may be we need to look for someone in near future.

Does revocation will also come under admin processing?
in that case, now what are options left out for me?
can same/different employer file a cap exempt petition ?

6

I think they can still file for cap-exempt petition as USCIS will take time to complete their review process. But you need to work on this soon. I also suggest talking to an immigration lawyer to understand what you have signed and what’s its short/long term implications are.

7

Hi h1aspirant123.

Can you please tell me what happened to your Visa application after you got the ‘Administrative Processing’ notice you have mentioned . i.e

“Your visa case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing. This processing can take several weeks. Please follow any instructions provided by the Consular Officer at the time of your interview. If further information is needed, you will be contacted. If your visa application is approved, it will be processed and mailed/available within two business days.”

I have the same scenario - I got a 221g for a petition through employer where the consulate asked for end client letter as proof of project. The client did not provide end client letter but provided all other project proof like SOW, MSA, company badge, org chart with my photo in it, pay slips, tax documents etc except client letter - consulate did not accept any of those. So we did not answer the 221 G further. We later filed another petition from the same employer but this time with a new client and with all documents and went for Visa Interview with client letter. They issued another 221g saying that the PREVIOUS petition needs to be withdrawn by email and they will ask me to drop off my passport within a week. So I emailed them the withdrawal request just like you had provided them signed withdrawal request. However now, after a week - the case status shows ‘Administrative Processing’ with that message.

Were you granted the Visa after some time ? If so - after how many days ? If not then what did they tell you ?