Change of Status to H1 from H4

[Aparna T]

Current Situation:-

I am currently on H4 visa and EAD which is expiring on 2/8/2021. My passport had expired on July 12th, 2020 which I got renewed in July. But since my passport expiry was 7/12/2020, my I-94 date was linked to the passport expiry instead of visa date. I got my passport renewed and had filed for I-94 extension before 7/12/2020. The I-94 extension is in pending state currently.

Second, as my visa was expirign on Feb 8th, 2021, I had filed for H4 and EAD extension in August as soon as it was eligible to apply. The corresponding h1-b application of my spouse was then in premium processing, however, since H4 renewal requires bio-metric, my application is still in pending state until now. I finally received the bio-metric appointment for Feb 1st, 2021 and will be going for it.

So, currently i have two applications with USCIS in pending state :- 1) I-94 extension which expired on July 12th, 2020 and had filed for extension before that, 2) H4 and EAD extension which is expiring on Feb 8th, 2021.  I received an appointment for bio metric this week for Feb 1st, 2021.

Additionally,  I also have an approved I-797 (h1-b) but I never applied for change of status until now.  Since there was no update on H4 and EAD, I decided to apply for change of status from H4 to H1-B and has been working with my firm to apply for last two months so that my work is not disrupted once EAD expires and if new EAD is not renewed before Feb 8th, 2021 which will be the case based on the current situation.  

But as we were preparing for the H1-b application, my firm's lawyers realized another complication:- Since my I-94 status extension is still in pending state (and not approved),  there is a risk to my change of status application from H4 to H1-B as my current I-94 is expired with extensino application in pending state.

Question:-

1. I am planning to apply for change of status from H4 to H1-B but given the above situation with I-94 status extension application still in pending state, is there a big risk to Change of status getting approved?  Or Since i have filed all extensions on time and as expected and applications are pending due to delay on USCIS, I should apply and risk is low ?

2. Is it advisable to apply for change of status or should I wait until I-94 extension is approved?

2. If I apply and incase my change of status application is not approved, would it impact my approved I-797 ? Or would i be able to still go for consular processing?

Thanks for your patience in reading question and understanding the situation.  Please let me know if there are any questions or if someone faced similar issue previously