How long can we stay in USA after applying for H4 Extension?

[hvarada]

Hi Experts,

My wife applied for her H4 Extension on June 1 2018 and her visa got expired as on August 15 2018. Her application went to Vermont Service Center.

The current wait time at this center is between 12 to 15.5 months as they are still processing July 16 2017 Extension of stay for H Visa's. My H1-B Visa got extended for 2 more years but, as of today, my wife is in USA still waiting for the decision on her extension.

Considering such situation how long can my wife stay in USA and at what time should she travel back to India if she doesn't hear back from USCIS on her extension?

Please advise.!

Thanks!

[shekar11#]

2 hours ago, hvarada said:

Hi Experts,

My wife applied for her H4 Extension on June 1 2018 and her visa got expired as on August 15 2018. Her application went to Vermont Service Center.

The current wait time at this center is between 12 to 15.5 months as they are still processing July 16 2017 Extension of stay for H Visa's. My H1-B Visa got extended for 2 more years but, as of today, my wife is in USA still waiting for the decision on her extension.

Considering such situation how long can my wife stay in USA and at what time should she travel back to India if she doesn't hear back from USCIS on her extension?

Please advise.!

Thanks!

She can stay as long as the case is in processing. If she has plans to go to India, she can get H-4 stamped using your I-797.

[PRV]

 

Hello,

I'm also in similar situation & in an urgent need of  advice. 

I have mentioned the details:-
Previous H1 and H4 were valid till 12th Oct 2017. I-94 also has the same expiry date. 

Sep 2017 - we applied for extension (H1 and H4) 
Nov 2017 - received RFE 
Feb 2018 - submitted RFE documents 
Mar 2018 - received H1 and H4 approval (approved from 12th Oct 2017 to 13th Oct 2017-just for a day ,due to typographical error!) 
Mar 2018 - filed H1 on premium (Attorney missed to file the H4 along with it) 
Apr 2019 - H1 premium got approved and is valid till Dec 2019
May 2018 - We got to know  that the H4 was not filed and filed a new petition. 
June 2018 - Vermont center received the petition 
July 2018 - received the receipt number for cureent H4 petition.

 My questions :-

1)Is my current stay considered legal, considering that its been 330 days from original I-94 expiry,181 days from the interim H4 received (though we received in Mar'18, it had past validity) I believe the current application has been filed without showing any "gaps" in the legal stay.
2) Vermont processing time is extremely long.. As per current timeline, the possibility of the application getting processed will be Sep - Nov 2019. If the application for some reason gets denied, at that point what will be the implication of my stay here? 
3) Is it still ok to travel to India while the petition is still in process? Will it make my current processing void if I travel out of country or I can still get H4 stamped along with H1 stamping? Some opinions say that travelling can cause an indefinte delay/RFE scenario on H4?

If I decide to travel during this time,will there be a problem at the airport since my I-94 expired long back or I can inform about USCIS error in case of any questions?

(We have an approved I-140 and have two US born daughters.)

3)  Is there any way that Attorney can acccess the pending files in case of an H4,since it is not on Premium processing?I don't think the petition has been filed like a correction to the originally approved one. Current petition is filed like a fresh application.

4) Can Infopass be of any help in this situation since, its primarily USCIS' mistake that we had to file again for correction.?

 I have to attend my brother's wedding at Delhi early next year and, we never anticipated that this visa extension could take this long, for more than an year now.. I don't want to be in indefinite doubts to confirm my trip to India.