EB1C – 1 year outside US – continuous employment - Quitting and Rejoining

[sunshine01]

Hi,

I worked for company A in US for 7 years and then moved to India in Sept 2018 because my visa was denied. I worked full time for the company for 9 months (in which I was away from work on loss of pay for 3 months). I quit the company in June 2019 to move to Canada. I could not find work in Canada, so I am planning to go back and join Company A in India.

1. If I work for another 3-4 months, will I qualify for the 1 year outside US? OR do I have to restart the 1 year timer and work for the company for another year.
2. Is the 3 months on loss of pay considered towards the 1 year? I was still a full time employee of the company.
3. I was also on bench for 2 months looking for project. Is the bench time considered towards the 1 year?
4. What if I work for another company B in Canada for 2-3 months before I go back to India. Will that be a problem towards continuous employment?

I was on project essentially 4 months out of the 9 months, and now will be on project again now for 4 months. But in totality my time outside US in the company will be more than 1 year.