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Whatever your employer request on LCA/i129 h1b application form. They can request from Jan or June to next 3 years. USCIS will approve what your employer will request. 221g in theory have no relation with consulate. In Fact a non-home country can warrant more 221g as consulate may not have info from local home country government about you.

If your i94 was related to company A, that i94 is now gone after A withdrew its application. Your best case was to have B's approval. B's denial makes you out of status and any application filed now will likely not be approved with i94 extension. And imo , you must leave asap. There is no 10 or 60 days grace period if i94 is gone.

No, H4 ead renewal card must be in hand to continue working. She should seize working on last valid day listed on EAD and wait for the new renewed card to continue her work.

You should call airline and ask them. These things keep changing. As per my understanding and last time I checked a few months ago, you could not board a flight going through Europe with an expired US visa. Either get a direct flight or go through middle east . Call airline.

Visa interview is more like a free flowing discussion than an interview. You should stay away from cramming up answers and be ready with anything related to your job, studies, life etc. They wont ask you anything that you do not know.

Yes, why would you not mention that. You mention exactly what is asked for.

Kids on H4 are NOT authorized to work. Only spouses are eligible for H4 EAD that too when primary applicant is on H1b , maintaining status and have i140 approved.

With the Speciality Occupation RFE sent, USCIS is not convinced that the position offered to you meets the H1b law criteria of speciality occupation. Nobody here has a magical answer for you. You must work with your employer and their attorneys to understand what the RFE is about and then respond to it. They are the only one who know about your case, job , job functions and position details more than anyone anywhere. Read here about the official USCIS criteria of H1b speciality occupation. Basically your h1b application failed to meet any of the criterias defined under speciality occupation. https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations-dod-cooperative-research-and-development-project-workers-and-fashion-models

You should get h1b filed in PP and send your dependants new approval copy to get I-94 w.r.t new petition expiration dates. Aug 15 to Aug 31 seems like too close of a window to avoid complications. Why wait, file asap and that too in PP.

Depends on center and their backlog. If filed in regular, USCIS can take 4 weeks or more, especially when FY2020 h1b cap subject petitions are being worked upon. USCIS has no obligation to send notices within a certain period as it is not defined by law. One would think that USCIS should be more "professional" with their services especially when one is paying application fees. However, it is what it is. OP should request employer and their attorneys to follow up with USCIS through proper channels (raise a SR). Employer can also check if the cheque sent is cashed or not. If cashed your receipt number is already generated and you just have not received it. Nobody here can do anything for you and there are no magical answers. you must work with your employer and their attorneys at this time to figure this out.

If filed in regular, USCIS may take upto 4 weeks or even more to send a receipt notice. Not a bad idea to request your employer and their attorneys to open a SR with USCIS.

Nothing can be done beside waiting for consulate to make a decision. Most 221g admin processing cases have a decision in 2-8 weeks. Give them at least 2 weeks. Not a bad idea to email consulate/ustraveldocs and let them reply to you what they are doing on your case.

Nothing beside waiting for consulate to make a decision can be done at this time. Most 221g admin processing cases are resolved between 2-8 weeks. You must wait. Consulate may revert back earlier. It is suggested to have travel plans and flight tickets etc booked after you have the visa stamp on your passport.

No but as soon as you leave previous employer, they have to notify USCIS of your last working day. So you can assume the previous H1b is gone. So the best strategy is to have h1b transfer approval in hand via premium processing and then switch.

Delays are expected as USCIS is working on FY2020 h1b applications. You must wait for official correspondence from USCIS. I hope your employer's lawyers have filed supplemental forms to allow USCIS to send email/electronic correspondence.