H1b withdrawl mistakenly by employer

USA H1B Visa
1

Hi,

I have situation where my current employer mistakenly got my H1B petition cancelled while I was working for them in US. I am still in US. The situation is that earlier I had to join my current employer on Dec 2015 but due to visa transfer not happening on time, my joining date got pushed to Jan 2016 and I joined in Jan 2016. But some how due to miscommunication the off boarding team didnt get notice that my joining date has been pushed to Jan and they sent a request to USCIS to cancel my petition and it had been approved also. So, now my employer said that they are going to file for my h1b now under premium category. Bug I am worried now as right now I am not sure of my status in US and on h1b there should not be any gap in employment. Not sure what will happen.

Please respond to my query if anyone knows what should be done and can there be any bad consequences because of this situation? What options do I have?

2

Can you provide exact dates - when you left old employer, when new employer’s petition was approved as cancelled on USCIS site?

3

Jan 15th 2016 was my last day in my previous company and I joined the current employer on Jan 18th 2016. And I think couple of weeks back the cancellation request was submitted and approved also. But my employer came to know yesterday and by tomorrow they would be filing my new H1B. My petition for this current employer was approved on Dec 15th 2016 and valid till July 2018.

4

So there is about 2-3 weeks period where you were out of status due to canceled H-1B petition.

Although it would depend upon adjudicating officer, I think it should be ok. Your employer should also include a letter explaining why it happened.

Worst case scenario, they will approve 797 but deny I-94. So you will have to leave US and return on H-1 visa to get a new I-94 and start working for that employer.

5

Thanks Saurabh. I hope so everything should be fine

6

Hi Saurabh,

I am still waiting on the approval. As you said in worst case, I may need to leave US and reenter US, how do I know that if I can travel on the same visa from my previous employer or I will have to go to visa stamping again? If H1b is revoked as in my case, does it revoke visa also?

7

The visa stamp in the passport is good for travel until it has been marked as canceled in the passport. If the associated petition is withdrawn, it doesn’t automatically cancel the visa stamp.