Last Action Notice: Concurrent H4, H4EAD extension and H4 to L1A scenario Help

Hi Friends,
Background: I am here on H1B with approved I140 with I-94 expiring on 16th Sept, 2019. My wife is also working on H4 with H4 EAD. She recently came from India and is working for the same company here in US that she was working with in India. I applied for H1B, H4, H4EAD extension in PP, however received an RFE on July 14th. My lawyer is still preparing the response, however I am not sure if it will get approved, So my wife employer is ready to file for L1A visa in PP, (When she was in India her L1A blanket got rejected, so she came here on H4).

Issue: Due to I-94 expiring soon, both her L1A application and my RFE response might get filed around the same time next week and there might be chances of both of them getting approved and below are the scenarios depending on which might get approved first. I asked my lawyers and they said its a unique situation and she also will have to research the same. So asking help from you guys, and putting it in both L1, h4 and H1b forums

Case1: If her L1 petition get approved after H4 extension approval, then all is good based on Last Action Notice and she will be on L1A and incase if my H1B gets rejected, I can jump onto L2 and L2 EAD. But in our case, her petition will be filed first, so most likely this will not be the case unless she receives RFE. If she receives RFE, then probably we will have time on her hand till her H4EAD gets approved.
Case 1a: If she receives a RFE and her H4 EAD gets approved in the meanwhile, she can probably continue working. What happens if her L1 RFE does not get approved, will her H4EAD still remain valid?

Case2: If her L1 petition get approved before H4 extension approval, then like we discussed before, will we have enough time to immediately cancel our H4 and H4ead application.
Case 2a: If we are able to cancel in time, then all is well and good and she will be on L1A.
Case 2b: If we are not able to cancel in time, and her H4 and H4EAD gets approved the next day after L1A approval. Then she will be on H4EAD. At this time how will she be able to go back on L1A.
Case 2c: If we are not able to cancel in time, and her H4 gets approved the next day after L1A approval, but her H4EAD is still not approved. Then she will be on H4 and still won’t be able to work until H4 EAD arrives. At this time how will she be able to go back on L1A.

Case 3: Hope this doesn’t happen, But if both H1B, H4, H4EAD and her L1A gets rejected. Will I be able to refile our H1B, H4, H4EAD before Sept 16? If so, can I wait for the H1B application result while staying in US or do I have to go out of the country. So that I don’t accrue any illegal stay. I have read that for the same company, I could work past the I-94 date while applying for h1b, however if H1b gets denied, then that would count as illegal stay.
Case 3a: if the refile H1B gets denied, then what are the options to stay in US, is transfer to F1 status a possibility at that time in the month of September?

I am sorry if I am asking too many questions, but I am trying to look at all the ‘what if options’ incase things go south…

The other solution is withdraw my H4EAD H4 and H4EAD extension. (Not sure how long does this take) and apply for L1A in PP and hopefully it goes through. If not then applying for H4 and H4EAD again if my RFE clears.

-Thanks Guys.

You have done a lot of analysis. You know the situations that can come, but you cannot really control anything. So, my view is keep it simple and use what you can control.
My two cents.
In general, her current status is H4, so until her L1 is approved, she would continue on H4 status and can continue to work.
The timing cannot be really controlled and USCIS processing times cannot be really predicted with H4. So, best thing to do is file L1 in Premium and get things moving faster so that you have L1 done.
Discuss with your attorney’s and then take an informed decision, your situation is tricky and they are the best ones to help you.

Hi Kumar,

Just to update you, right now, my H1B extension and my wife’s L1A both got approved, so as you and our lawyer had suggested, we withdrew her H4 and just keeping a watch on it to ensure the withdrawal gets successfully processed by USCIS.

Thanks for all your inputs/advice!

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Glad to hear. Thx for update !

Jarus, was your spouse’s GC initiated based on her L1A approval ?