I94 expired due to passport expiry

1

Hi,
Please help with following situation:
I entered the United States on H4 visa with less than 6 months validity on my passport. Hence the CBP officer had shortened my stay till date of passport expiry.
We renewed the passport but were not aware about the shortened stay. We recently found out that my I94 was expired and reached out to our lawyer.
Now, I94 on the website shows expired but I94 on the I797 and H4 visa is valid till Jan 2025.
We went to Mexico border as suggested by our lawyer. But the CBP officer there only gave an entry stamp on the new I94. After which we emailed the deferred Inspection office to get the I94 updated to match the I797 validity but they responded stating your stay at the contiguous border country has to be more than 30 days in order to get a new I94.

  1. Please suggest what are our options to resolve this situation?
  2. Is doing NPT better or should I go to India and return?
  3. Will there be any issue while returning as there is (less than 180 days) stay beyong I94 expiry?
  4. Do I have to apply and go for new H4 stamping once in India?
    Please provide any solution that might have worked for you…
2

I would just file an extension of status with NPT. Below are some options if you received a shortened I-94 but is still valid and not expired.

3

I got i797 approval for H4 Visa until Decmeber2027. But however, I had to travel and return back to USA in April 2025 but at port of entry they just checked the previous visa on passport which was valid until June 2025 and allowed me. Therefore, they issued i94 with last admit date until June 2025 which nullifies the latest visa approval. However, there is new i797 approval notice on same visa type approved until 2027 and what will be my current visa status. What are ways to get it rectified. When I approach CBP Deffered center for correcting i94 dates, they tell me to check with employer. But I am not current working at all. Kindly advise.

4

Fundamentals

  1. VISA: Permit to enter into USA. This is usually represented witha stamping on the passport page. This is only useful till you enter into US at the POE, after that it got no value(means while inside US).
  2. STATUS: The legal eligibility that allows to stay in US. Its usually a part of I-94. This starts from the moment you leave the POE after arrival.
    While inside US, you dont need a valid visa. You must have a valid status.
    Each time you renew your Non-Immigrant visa(such as H1/H4/B1/B2 etc), you will get a form I-797, which would have an I-94 towards the end of the document. Thats what the I-94 status which demonistrate your legal eligibility to be inside US.
    Having said that, for your case, You are free to live inside US as long as your latest I-94 is valid(note that I said LATEST, means, any existing I-94s will be nullified when a latest I-94 is issued).
    If you happen to travel outside US, you must have the latest VISA stamped onto your passport to enter back to US.

When the officer said “to check with employer” means, check with your Spouse(H1) employer as H4 is a H1 dependent visa.
(The above is the general infromation with some exceptions such as H1B approval without I-97, Living on AP etc)