I am on L1B validd till Sept 2013 (I-94 valid till 2015) My wife is working and is currently on L2 EAD which is expring on 25th May 2013.
My company has not filed for L1B extension as my I-94 is valid till 2015.
We had filed for extension towards March end and yesterday we received RFE asking for following documents:
Applicants I-539, Application to extend/change nonimmigration status
Aplicant's I-94
Applicant's US visa pages
Principal Alien's's I-797A
Principal Alien's I-94
Principal Alien's US visa pages
We have all the documents except I-539. What is is this and why is this required? Can I respond to RFE without this? Would appreciate a quick response as I need to reply at the earliest.
She needs to extend her I-94 first and then apply for EAD extension. Otherwise, she will get EAD only until her current I-94 which is 25 May 2013. That is why they are asking for I-539.
Actually, you didn’t mention her I-94 expiration date. You mentioned your I-94 date and her EAD expiration date.
In any case, if her I-94 is still valid, then I-539 is not required. They may have send out standard template for required documents. Check w/ your attorney and then submit a response stating that I-539 is not required as the I-94 is still valid in her case.
We havent been dealing with an attorney till now as we had filed the application ourselves. Do we need to get in touch with an attorney for this or can we include this in the cover letter ourselves? Like:
"For I-539 form: Since me and my husband both have our I-94 stamped till February 2015, my husband’s company has not filed our I-94 extensions and/or L1 / L2 extensions. They suggest that we do not need to file I-539 for extension of non-immigrant status as we have valid I-94 till Feb 2015 which authorizes our stay till 2015. "
The response looks ok to me, but its better to see if there are other experiences shared online (on redbus or elsewhere) and gather their responses.
You can check w/ your L-1 attorney to know the exact rule which allows L-1/2 visa holder to stay back and work just on the basis of I-94. And then include its reference in your response.
We tried getting information on a similar experience online but weren’t successful.
Also, people have different experiences about getting L2 EAD extensions based on Visa expiration vs I-94 expiration date. From what I have gathered it all depends on the Imm officer tackling your case. Some extend it till I-94 expiry and some till visa expiry.
We would be okay even if she gets EAD extended till the Visa expiry. There are 4 months between her EAD expiry and Visa expiry.
Ofcourse getting an EAD till I94 expiry would be the best, but we just dont want the application to be rejected.
Seems I am similar situation like yours…I received RFE for my EAD renewal…For me they are asking for 1. my current status
2. Spouse’s current status along with copy of I-797.
Though, we have not applied for any L1/L2 extensions but we both have I-94 till 2016.
Could you please let me know finally what response you sent for I-539?
Will Appreciate your quick response…
We replied with a wording similar to the one I mentioned in an earlier post to Saurabh saying that employer suggested there is no need to file for I-539 as we have valid I-94 which authorizes our stay till 2016 and asking to approve application based on I-94 validity.
One question : When they asked you Principal Alien’s’s I-797A, did you send them the original approval of notice?
I just have the original one…as no visa extension applied.
