Travelling out of country while H1B RFE is under processing

[nagyen]

Hello, 

I am currently on F1 STEM-OPT valid till April 2019 and my H1B is filed with change of status in April 2018.

I got an RFE and submitted the response 30 days ago but it is still under review. I have to travel out of country for some family emergency.

 Can someone please provide me some input on these?

1. Will my travel affect my H1B application or just my Change of Status application?
2. What happens if my visa is approved while i am out of the country with or without change of status approved?
3. What happens if my visa is approved after i am back with or without change of status approved?

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[pontevecchio]

Your COS will be invalid. The H1 will be dealt on merits.

[xTDx]

19 hours ago, nagyen said:

Can someone please provide me some input on these?

1. Will my travel affect my H1B application or just my Change of Status application?
2. What happens if my visa is approved while i am out of the country with or without change of status approved?
3. What happens if my visa is approved after i am back with or without change of status approved?

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

TL;DR : leave and abandon COS. If you have to leave, apply for correct classification of visa, get approved and come back

1- As mentioned above , COS will be denied. If you are not in US, you are not in any status, hence COS is moot.

2- If h1b petition (not visa) approved without COS of course and you are out of USA, you would have to apply (and get approved) for H1b visa(not petition) at nearest consulate and come back to usa. Understand the difference between a h1b petition i,e i129 and h1b visa.

3- If you are back, I assume you are back under f1-opt. And at that time you would not have a COS approved because you travelled out of usa. You will stay in usa until current f1-opt expires or leave country , apply for H1b visa at nearest consulate in home country, get h1b visa approved, and come back under h1b. 

As you see it all aint piece of cake and has a lot of moving parts. Avoid travel while COS applications are pending.

TL;DR : leave and abandon COS. If you have to leave, apply for correct classification of visa, get approved and come back

[nagyen]

Thank you very much for the info @xTDx