Travelling to India during H1B extension processing with valid H1b until dec 2017

[winterwed]

Hi,

My husbands H1B( and my H4)  is valid until Dec 2017 and we got our I140 approved too. His company will go for an H1B extension this month. Since H1-B premium processing is not available now, we might have to wait for 3-6 months for the extension to be approved. My questions is :  I have my brothers marriage in August, 2017. Will I be able to travel to India after our extension procedures are started in May ?  We were planning to do the premium processing but they kept it on hold in the mean time. 

We have to go to Chennai for visa stamping too. Last time my husbands visa was put on administrative processing for 3 months. So he doesn't want to take risk . But I would like to know whether I can go to India or not, since my visa is valid till Dec 2017. Will I be put on an administrative processing? 

Couple of my friends told that EAD can be used as Travel Document. Is it true? If so, do we need to go for visa stamping?

Please help. 

Waiting for all the valuable suggestions.

Nidhi

[super_123]

Hello Nidhi,

You guys can't travel once extension is applied and in-progress with USCIS. Technically if you are in US and applying for VISA (H1/H4/L1 etc) extension means they would extended your I-94 till the petition date. Meantime If you guys travel out of country, your i-94 (used in extension) gets void and may have to stay out of the country until the petition is approved. 

You can alos check with your spouse's company attorney for this inputs as well.

Hope this information helps.

 

Thanks !

[winterwed]

Thanks a lot super_123. I was not sure about this and I didnt want to take any wrong decision...