Questions regarding L1B Recapture

My details are as below,

  1. 3 year L1B visa got approved - July 2012 (valid till July 2015)

  2. Arrived to US : October 2012

  3. Went back to India : Apr 2014 and came back to US on July 2014 and stayed till end of May 2015

  4. Went back to India by May 2015 (visa expired by July 2015) and applied for extension from India , got it approved and stamped (valid til July 2017) and arrived at US by Jan 2016 .

  5. Planning to stay till July 2017 (end of visa validity)

Questions :

  1. Between July 2012 - 17, I was outside of US for almost 13 months (including 2 months vacation), Can I recapture those 13 months?

  2. If so, by when can I apply for recapture? Should I wait till 6 months before visa expiry?

  3. Assuming my recapture request is approved for 13 months, Do I have to get visa stamping if I had to travel to India after July 2017?

  4. Any other help/guidelines for recapture process?

  1. Yes, L-1 extension can be filed to capture those months. You can continue to get extensions until you have spent 5 years inside US on L-1 (7 years if L-1A)

  2. Yes, extension can be filed 6 months prior to expiration date

  3. Yes