I-94 expired due to passport expirtaion. Please advice!

prv1981

By prv1981,
in H1B : I-94 Cards

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prv1981 Newbie

prv1981

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My last entry into USA was with a valid H1-B visa in Aug 2010. H1-B is valid until Feb 2012. How ever, my passport was set to expire in June 2011. My I-94 has the same expirtation date as my passport. I did renew my passport but did not realize that I need to renew my I-94 until my company's attorney told me as we started my H1-B extension process couple of days ago.

I am in SFO area. Do you recommend taking an Infopass appointment and go see a CBP officer to get this resolved. Are there any other alternatives? Please help and Thank you for your response.

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  • 2 weeks later...
caca1225 Member

caca1225

Posted
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My husband's I94 was expired in Feb 2010 that we happened to find out 2 months after the expiry. At first he tried the local CBP with no luck, so we crossed the boarder of Mexico, Tijuana, and came back with a new I-94. Everything went smoothly at the boarder of Mexico. The officer was very nice and he asked my husband why he needed a new I-94 and then printed a new one for my husband right away.

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  • 2 weeks later...
petra Member

petra

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hi caca1225, my i-94 expired 4 mos ago with a valid h1b til dec. 31,2011. did u have to get a visa to enter mexico?were you able to finish it in one day?what bus did you ride?i also went to CBP but unsuccessful.the officer advised me the option to go to canada or mexico or go back to my homeland & wait for the decision of uscis for h1b renewal.how were you able to re-enter the US, when his old i-94 expired,wouldn't it follow that the h1b visa will get cancelled too?so how did you both re-enter aside from the new i-94,did you also apply a new US visa?i'm confused! can we chat on ym?my ID is pretty_petra13@*****.com.hope to hear from you soon.thanks

petra

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caca1225 Member

caca1225

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hi caca1225, my i-94 expired 4 mos ago with a valid h1b til dec. 31,2011. did u have to get a visa to enter mexico?were you able to finish it in one day?what bus did you ride?i also went to CBP but unsuccessful.the officer advised me the option to go to canada or mexico or go back to my homeland & wait for the decision of uscis for h1b renewal.how were you able to re-enter the US, when his old i-94 expired,wouldn't it follow that the h1b visa will get cancelled too?so how did you both re-enter aside from the new i-94,did you also apply a new US visa?i'm confused! can we chat on ym?my ID is pretty_petra13@*****.com.hope to hear from you soon.thanks

First I want to say we are lucky. We didn't know how serious if one has over-stay in US until I recently read from forums for people who had same situation. I'm not sure if what works for us will also work for you too. But I sure can share my experience to you.

No you don't need a visa to go to Mexico if the stay is short. I'm not sure how short exactly, but I've been there for a 2-day tour before and didn't need a visa. We live in Los Angeles and going to boarder of Mexico is only a 2-hour drive. It's convenient to us. If you still have a valid H1b visa, going out of US won't make the valid visa cancelled automatically.

At the time my husband's I-94 expiry, he still had a valid H1B visa. I had a H1b visa also and my I-94 had not expired. I've been to Mexico few times before and the POE is different than what you've seen at the airport. When you enter Mexico boarder either by foot for by car, they don't check your paper or passport. You can just walk across the boarder. Since no one there to check your passport/visa, that means you still have your I-94 with you. There are two different lines at Tijuana boarder when you're entering to US. As I've mentioned I've been there couple times, I didn't notice there are two different lines. I usually just go directly to the entry gate, which looks like POE at airport. The only difference is they don't issue you a new I-94. All they do is looking at your passport and visa and then let you through (not even a stamp). They did a very poor job though. One time my friend went Tijuana with her old expired passport along with a valid visa. She called her sister to deliver her valid passport there. But just to the curiosity, we asked her to test the officer there to see if the officer would even notice her old passport has expired. So she only presented her old passport to the officer and that guy let her though even he did looked at her old passport that has one corner cut-off. Anyway, there is another line that will deal with other issues and that's where we went. We waited in the line until our turn. When we approached the officer and told him directly that my husband's I-94 was expired due to expiry of his old passport and we didn't notice until now and asked him if my husband can get a new one. The officer was very nice to us. He first asked my husband what he do and he answered that his company is developing software for mobile phone GPS system. And the officer seems to be interested and had a good mood so he asked few questions regarding that. He didn't hesitated to issue a new I-94 at all. And after getting his new I-94, we went back to the line that is for general entry to US (the other line) and entered US. The whole process was really fast. We never thought there would be a problem. We just went there like a regular visitor to Mexico. We parked the car in San Diego near the boarder and just walked to Tijuana. We spent some time for sight seeing although there is nothing to see. Tijuana has been changed greatly since last time I've been there. There's no more US visitor but just locals. My husband was worried it's not safe there so we only spent an hour or so walking around and then turned back. It probably took us 30 minutes to entered US including wait time and getting a new I-94. Basically it's all depends on luck. It's hard to say what would happen there. Becuase later that year in May, we went for a cruise ride to Canada. And at the Vancouver POE (for cruise riders, they don't issue you a new I-94 either), the guy who checked our visa and passport looked really mean. He had a suspicious look at us when he checked our visa. I guess if he was the one at Tijuana boarder, my husband would have no chance of getting a new I-94.

If your I-94 has expired for a long time (like more than 3 months), I think it's better to file for a Nunc Pro Tunc or 245(k) than do what we did. I'm not sure if there's any risk involved for filing Nunc Pro Tunc. If there's a way to fix your issue properly, it's always recommand to go the safe way unless there's also some risk involved then probably trying your luck might be a good idea.

I hope this help and you can resolve your issue really soon. All the best.

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petra Member

petra

Posted
Posted

caca1225,

your post is very informative. i'm about to consult a different employer 2mrw. the lawyer handling my case wants me to go home & wait for the decision.but i'm worried that i might have a hard time re-entering because of my expired i-94. i'll ask the atty. 2mrw if it's ok to try mexico. i tried CBP in Irving,TX but the officer refused to fix it even if i explained that it's because of the passport. thanks again for the input.

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petra Member

petra

Posted
Posted

caca1225,

0

i'm just wondering, because of some of the post that i read here like the story of memberdev. he's got an approved h1b extension & new i-94(though nunc pro tunc applied. but his period of out of status of 180 days he said was not backdated,so its still on his records that once he went out of status.would that apply to your husband too?or was it wiped out when he got a new i-94 in mexico?murthy said it might cause a problem with future application of i-485 .

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caca1225 Member

caca1225

Posted
Posted

caca1225,

your post is very informative. i'm about to consult a different employer 2mrw. the lawyer handling my case wants me to go home & wait for the decision.but i'm worried that i might have a hard time re-entering because of my expired i-94. i'll ask the atty. 2mrw if it's ok to try mexico. i tried CBP in Irving,TX but the officer refused to fix it even if i explained that it's because of the passport. thanks again for the input.

My husband tried CBP at LAX also. He said the guy was mean and that guy almost call someone to escort my husband out.

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caca1225 Member

caca1225

Posted
Posted

caca1225 , i have a question again.did your husband already renew his h1b? did exiting to mexico & changing the 1-94 have any bad effect on his h1b renewal?

After I-94 renewal at Tijuana, we have been to Canada. We got our green card last year and went oversea this year. We got no issue at all.

Right after my husband got his I-94 renewal, his company asked his passport, visa, and legal status because his company overheard that my husband had an expired I-94. We're glad that we have taken care of the issue before it goes worse. Some employers are very serious about this and they might ask you to leave the company once they came to know you have legal issue.

How long since your I-94 expiry? I hope you can get this resolved really soon. It's very hard to maintain your status all clean. One small negligent can cost you everything.

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petra Member

petra

Posted
Posted

My husband tried CBP at LAX also. He said the guy was mean and that guy almost call someone to escort my husband out.

I got a fair treatment with the officer I've talked with. I was trying to convince him but refrained when he said supposedly he should have been confiscating my papers due to my status. But I tried not to show any fear & said it happened in good faith.And then he advised me 2 options,go back home & wait whle my paper's getting process (new h1b filing) or go to mexico or canada and apply visa there.It's kinda confusing coz i would still need a to present i-797(i-129) & present it to the consul before i can apply a new visa even if i go to canada or mexico.coz he said my all my papers got invalid already when my i-94 expired. but i know he wouldnt suggest mexico & canada if it weren't something different from going straight home.

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petra Member

petra

Posted
Posted

After I-94 renewal at Tijuana, we have been to Canada. We got our green card last year and went oversea this year. We got no issue at all.

Right after my husband got his I-94 renewal, his company asked his passport, visa, and legal status because his company overheard that my husband had an expired I-94. We're glad that we have taken care of the issue before it goes worse. Some employers are very serious about this and they might ask you to leave the company once they came to know you have legal issue.

How long since your I-94 expiry? I hope you can get this resolved really soon. It's very hard to maintain your status all clean. One small negligent can cost you everything.

So when his company found out abt it they filed you both for GC from h1b ASAP? My employer is supportive too but she doesnt know how to handle the issue so she jst relies on atty's advise which is for me to go home. I told my employer that if I can get my i-94 fixed then it would be like nothing had happened.That's jst my thought since I was working the whole time beyond the i-94 expiration(june 16,2011),and only stopped last oct 12 when we foud out.I'd be 2 wks out of work this week. I hope it wont affect my family based petition(which was filed last yr) later on. I'll need to solve one issue at a time & deal with others later. By d way, I assume you didnt have EAD(from GC) when the i-94 expired right?The USCIS law is constantly evolving,I hope what worked for u would still be available for me. I'm glad to have talked to u whom i can relate with.Thanks.

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petra Member

petra

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Posted

hi all ! i'm back to share my succesful story about valid h1b & i-797(dec 31,2011) & expired i-94(june 16,2011) . i just came 2day from CBP -San Antonio,TX. I told the officer about the expired i-94,which was the same as the expiration of my passport(june 16,2011). And that my employer & I thought even before it expired that as long as I have the i-797 we're fine until we discovered recently while filing for h1b extension that it made me out of status accdg to my atty. The officer agreed that I'm still on status becoz of the i-797 & agreed too that it was dated that way becoz of my passport(though i told her it was dated initially the same as the others when i entered in 2009) and it just needed to be corrected.I told her that I stopped working the moment we found out.When she asked why,i said so as not to further aggravate the situation. She repeated again that i'm fine becoz of the i-797.I kept on praying while she's working on it on her desk.I just finally relaxed when she handed me the new i-94 card. I'm not sure if she gave me a new admission # or probably not coz the numbers on the card was crossed out with a marker & she wrote the numbers in the box manually(i'll figure it out when i go home,i have a fotocopy of the old i-94 at home,i drove ~5.5 hrs but its worth it).What's in the card is the same date that i entered last yr & now its the same date as my i-94.And in my passport she crossed the date june 16,2011 again and put the right date with the word correction. After I thanked her ,she said"Now,make sure you get back to work!" and smiled. After getting refused from CBP -Dallas last week & a 2nd opinion from a different lawyer earlier this morning(he told me the same to just go home & w8 for the approval of h1b extension,but i told him that i might have problems due to this expired i-94,though he said it would be less likely as long as i exit before i turn 180 days or i might want to try again he said at the CBP here,and so I did). I think prayers helped a lot too and just be honest about it. It happened in good faith,so it's easier to explain to them. Hadn't i tried going to CBP today, I could have lost the opportunity. Ive read some post here even trying more than i did. The lesson is dont give up right away. Thanks a lot for all your posts. This forum & the people contributing inputs here are very helpful.Thank you all.

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King.Arthur Newbie

King.Arthur

Posted
Posted

hi all ! i'm back to share my succesful story about valid h1b & i-797(dec 31,2011) & expired i-94(june 16,2011) . i just came 2day from CBP -San Antonio,TX. I told the officer about the expired i-94,which was the same as the expiration of my passport(june 16,2011). And that my employer & I thought even before it expired that as long as I have the i-797 we're fine until we discovered recently while filing for h1b extension that it made me out of status accdg to my atty. The officer agreed that I'm still on status becoz of the i-797 & agreed too that it was dated that way becoz of my passport(though i told her it was dated initially the same as the others when i entered in 2009) and it just needed to be corrected.I told her that I stopped working the moment we found out.When she asked why,i said so as not to further aggravate the situation. She repeated again that i'm fine becoz of the i-797.I kept on praying while she's working on it on her desk.I just finally relaxed when she handed me the new i-94 card. I'm not sure if she gave me a new admission # or probably not coz the numbers on the card was crossed out with a marker & she wrote the numbers in the box manually(i'll figure it out when i go home,i have a fotocopy of the old i-94 at home,i drove ~5.5 hrs but its worth it).What's in the card is the same date that i entered last yr & now its the same date as my i-94.And in my passport she crossed the date june 16,2011 again and put the right date with the word correction. After I thanked her ,she said"Now,make sure you get back to work!" and smiled. After getting refused from CBP -Dallas last week & a 2nd opinion from a different lawyer earlier this morning(he told me the same to just go home & w8 for the approval of h1b extension,but i told him that i might have problems due to this expired i-94,though he said it would be less likely as long as i exit before i turn 180 days or i might want to try again he said at the CBP here,and so I did). I think prayers helped a lot too and just be honest about it. It happened in good faith,so it's easier to explain to them. Hadn't i tried going to CBP today, I could have lost the opportunity. Ive read some post here even trying more than i did. The lesson is dont give up right away. Thanks a lot for all your posts. This forum & the people contributing inputs here are very helpful.Thank you all.

HI Petra

I am glad that your issue is resolved. I am in the same situation of I-94 expired and may be worse than you :( . I am really stressed about this issue.

I would really appreciate if you can help me by giving more information about how you solved this problem.

I am around same location in TX.

Can you please give me your email ID or contact no. to communicate with you.

Again I would really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.

Waiting for your reply....

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King.Arthur Newbie

King.Arthur

Posted
Posted

hi all ! i'm back to share my succesful story about valid h1b & i-797(dec 31,2011) & expired i-94(june 16,2011) . i just came 2day from CBP -San Antonio,TX. I told the officer about the expired i-94,which was the same as the expiration of my passport(june 16,2011). And that my employer & I thought even before it expired that as long as I have the i-797 we're fine until we discovered recently while filing for h1b extension that it made me out of status accdg to my atty. The officer agreed that I'm still on status becoz of the i-797 & agreed too that it was dated that way becoz of my passport(though i told her it was dated initially the same as the others when i entered in 2009) and it just needed to be corrected.I told her that I stopped working the moment we found out.When she asked why,i said so as not to further aggravate the situation. She repeated again that i'm fine becoz of the i-797.I kept on praying while she's working on it on her desk.I just finally relaxed when she handed me the new i-94 card. I'm not sure if she gave me a new admission # or probably not coz the numbers on the card was crossed out with a marker & she wrote the numbers in the box manually(i'll figure it out when i go home,i have a fotocopy of the old i-94 at home,i drove ~5.5 hrs but its worth it).What's in the card is the same date that i entered last yr & now its the same date as my i-94.And in my passport she crossed the date june 16,2011 again and put the right date with the word correction. After I thanked her ,she said"Now,make sure you get back to work!" and smiled. After getting refused from CBP -Dallas last week & a 2nd opinion from a different lawyer earlier this morning(he told me the same to just go home & w8 for the approval of h1b extension,but i told him that i might have problems due to this expired i-94,though he said it would be less likely as long as i exit before i turn 180 days or i might want to try again he said at the CBP here,and so I did). I think prayers helped a lot too and just be honest about it. It happened in good faith,so it's easier to explain to them. Hadn't i tried going to CBP today, I could have lost the opportunity. Ive read some post here even trying more than i did. The lesson is dont give up right away. Thanks a lot for all your posts. This forum & the people contributing inputs here are very helpful.Thank you all.

Petra

You can email me about your contact information.

Its really urgent. Thanks in advance.

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ssj1503 Newbie

ssj1503

Posted
Posted

Hi,

I'm in a similar situation. I'm on H4 and my I94 expired with my passport and we found out while renewing my husbands H1b (> 180 days). We filed for nunc pro tunc and extension of H visas is approved, BUT without a backdated I94.

Does anyone have advise about travelling to India and going for visa stamping? According to my lawyer, I'm back-in-status and things should be fine, but there is still a small risk.

Has anyone travelled after getting nunc pro tunc approved?

Thanks,

SSJ

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  • 4 weeks later...
prv1981 Newbie

prv1981

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Hi All,

I am the one that initiated this topic. My attorney has filed for Nunc Pro Tunc, I got a RFE saying that I need to submit more compelling evidence for I-94 reinstatement. My attorney replied asking USCIS to make a decision with already submitted documentation. My clock is ticking close to 6 months. I am super anxious but hoping to know the result in the next 2-3 days.

Has anyone gone to India and got a new visa stamping due to I-94 overstay?? Any issues at Chennai consulate because of this? Please respond

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  • 9 months later...
mxr38728 Member

mxr38728

Posted
Posted

My last entry into USA was with a valid H1-B visa in Aug 2010. H1-B is valid until Feb 2012. How ever, my passport was set to expire in June 2011. My I-94 has the same expirtation date as my passport. I did renew my passport but did not realize that I need to renew my I-94 until my company's attorney told me as we started my H1-B extension process couple of days ago.

I am in SFO area. Do you recommend taking an Infopass appointment and go see a CBP officer to get this resolved. Are there any other alternatives? Please help and Thank you for your response.

Hi,

I would like to know whether USCIS approved extension of stay. I know you got RFE when you applied NUNc Pro Tunc, what happened after that. I am in same boat, applied NTP yesterday under premium processing, hoelding my nerves!!, please respond, I live in Sunnyvale ca

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