I am in USA on H1B Visa, my wife VISA H1B is already stamped & She is still in India but her company is not ready to send her to USA right now. Should I go ahead apply for dependent VISA for my wife? Will that cancel her H1B VISA? If yes, then how can we avoid that?
You can have any number of visas applied and approved for you. But you can be on only one status at any time.
Having said that, your wife’s H1 approval/stamping etc doesnt matter till she enters into US using that visa(the she would be considered on H1 status).
Likewise, your wife can secure H4 visa also stamped on her passport and can enter with H4 visa then she would be on H4 status.
Once she enters into US on H4, some employer needs to file CHANGE of STATUS (from H4 to H1) for her.
Bottom line: A Visa is a travel document, useful only if you want to travel. A non-immigrant status is what you care about when you are in USA.
Thanks for the reply but i still have few doubts and if you could clear them as well.
1>If she gets H4 visa stamped, Will it impact H1B visa?(it will remain valid or will get cancelled)
2>Does she need to come back to India on H4 and then can return to US on H1b if she wants to do job in US(if she doesn’t want to change her employer who filed her H1b)?
There are few chances that the consulate may cancel H1 when H4 is stamped. I saw few such cases, but it depends. They may or may not. However it doesn’t matter, she can come to US on H4 and then can go for H1 Transfer/cap-exemption (as she has a previous approved h1)
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