My H1B Visa is about to expire and extension has been filed under normal processing

Hi,

My 1 year H1B Visa is expiring on October 13th 2016(My I-94 valid till 23rd October 2016) and my employer has filed my extension on June 21st under normal processing. I have a health urgency due to which i want to travel to India this year end. Please clarify my doubts below:-

  1. Can i travel to India before my Visa expiry date with the extension filed ?(Note: I have got my receipt notice but not the approval)

  2. If i travel to India after the Visa expiry before getting the approval, and then my approval gets rejected, does that mean my Visa gets a complete denial which means i have to again go through the CAP/ lottery process?

Please suggest what is best in this situation.

  1. Yes

  2. Your extension won’t be denied. Your extension of status would be denied as you left US (ie no new I-94) but your petition will continue to be processed.

I would suggest upgrading the petition to PP, so that you can get the approval before you return to US. The processing can happen while you are outside of US. As long as you have the extended petition by the time you return to US, you should get the extended I-94.

Did you talk to your attorney about this?