L1B (I-94 Ext) to all other options.

USA L1, L2 Visa
1

Hi,

I am working on L1B visa for an Employer “A” in US from past 3 years. My L1B (visa-2009-12, term 1) and I-94(status) expired on Feb 24, 2012. My employer applied for I-94 (status) extension in Feb 2012, the same was approved in Aug 2012. Now my I-94 (status) is valid till Feb 24, 2014. I know that I-94 is just a status which means I am legally allowed to work inside US until Feb 24, 2014, but I cannot go out of the country if so I have to enter with a valid L1B visa stamped. This is preventing me from visiting India with the fear of L1B visa rejection as this is an extension granted by USCIS inside US which cannot be implied to high approval chance in Indian US Consulate as in the case of H1Bs. I am not comfortable going the painful L1B interview process specifically.

I am trying to explore all the options available and present to my employer to choice one amongst many. The easiest one can think of is to apply for H1B for the 2013. I just get a feeling that my employer is not keen to do H1B without exploring all the other options available out there.

So my effort is to nail down every option precisely and propose the same to my employer.

Can you please assist me on this.

Regards,

Sri

2

Even if you move to H-1, you will still have to appear for stamping when going out of US. And lot of H-1s also result in 221g and rejections.

You need to evaluate whether you have a better chance of L-1 or H-1, and whether your job is really qualified for L-1 or is it valid for H-1, and then go for that visa.

Another option is to change employer and have another employer file H-1 for you, but not sure how willing you are to change employment.

You can also explore going for stamping to CA or MX as this is not your first L-1 stamping, but a subsequent one. Note that even going for stamping there doesn’t have a 100% success rate.