HI,
I am currently in US on L1B visa. My current L1B and its I-94 expired on Feb 6th 2013.
My employer applied for extension and it is in RFE status. I have to submit documents before May 23rd 2013. If i submit documents by May 23rd, if it gets rejected chances are i have to leave US by June end.
I also applied for H1B visa through another Employer under premium processing and it got approved, but i cannot work on it till Oct 1st 2013.
a) Am i bound to respond to L1B RFE by May 23rd? Can i not respond to RFE and stay untill full period (240 days from expiry)
b) Is the stay period of L1B 240 days after expiry? IF so, 8 months from Feb 6th will be Oct 6th, whcih i will be good to work on H1B staring oct 1st.
THank You.
rajesh
Hi Rajesh,
Below are the answers that can asist you:
a) Am i bound to respond to L1B RFE by May 23rd? Can i not respond to RFE and stay untill full period (240 days from expiry
[Answer] Yes, you are bound to reply to the RFE else your L1 extension would be considered null and void and you cannot stay in US.
b) Is the stay period of L1B 240 days after expiry? IF so, 8 months from Feb 6th will be Oct 6th, whcih i will be good to work on H1B staring oct 1st
[Answer]: No, this is not valid.Let me explain you.
You have filed L1 to H1 that means COS is from L1 to H1 which means in order to change your status you should have valid status first. Your vaild status of L1 ended on 6 feb2013.
Now if you want to work on H1 frm 1 oct you can do two things:
1) Reply L1 RFE, if its gets approved then you dont have to leave the country and from 1 oct you can start working on H1
2) If your L1 RFE gets rejected then you have to leave US go for stamping for H1 and then again enter US on H1 B.
if you are not planning to reply RFE then you have to leave US before the time expires to respond the query, go for H1 stamping in India and then enter US again on h1b visa
Hope it helps!