Hi,
I have got some questions regarding the I-797B and I-94 renewal at US/Mexico or US/Canada border. If anyone can answer these, that will be very helpful.
If my H-1B transfer is approved with I797-B(instead of I797-A) for being out of status on H-1B(either because the H-1B petition was filed for consular processing or USCIS itself decided that I797A can’t be given due to out of status) and if I have a valid H-1B visa stamp(annotated as M - for multiple entries) from my previous employer, have valid I-94, have valid passport for several years from now, can I just re-enter US from Mexico or Canada to get my I-94 renewed?
In the above case, will USCIS still insist in their decision for the H-1B transfer, to get a new H-1B visa stamp and if so, why? I need to know “why?”, because, H-1B visa stamp is not tied with any specific employer and hence with annotation M(for multiple entries), I researched across several sources and got to know that I can use my existing valid H-1B visa stamp to re-enter US from Mexico or Canada as above to renew my I-94 as per the end date on I797-B.
So, have any of you recently(in and around Corona days of 2020 or may be in 2019/2018) gone through such a process as above and have successfully re-entered US with “I797-B for new employer + valid visa stamp for previous employer + out of status for sometime + valid I-94 + valid passport for way more than 6 months” without "going for new H-1B visa stamp anywhere(home country/Mexico/Canada, etc)?
If yes for the above, I have few more questions as under.
- Can you tell me what are the recommended US-borders at which I can re-enter after travelling to them by flight?
- Is travelling by flight to San Deigo/San Ysidro/Tijuana/Mexico border a good place to get the above I-94 renewal? If yes, after arriving at San Diego airport(one nearest to San Ysidro), can you tell me the suggested route to the CBP/border office where I-94 renewal is done?
- Or will just visiting the CBP office any international airport(San Francisco, San Jose, or any other international airports across US) be enough to get my I-94 renewed?
- If I decide to travel over flight to Canada and re-enter US the very same day within few hours(say 2-3 hours or even less) of landing in Canada never leaving the Canada airport, do I still need to apply for a Canadian visa before this flight?
Thanks