EXPIRED I94 ; PETITION PENDING; NEED TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY AND ALSO NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHANGING CLIENT

[ktim]

MY I94;797;Visa expire on 12th July 2011. My employer filled the H1B extension on 11th july 2011(today) under normal processing.

I have few questions on this.I will be really grateful if any of you can answer below questions.

1)Can I leave usa with an expired I94 and when decision about my extension is pending with uscis.I need to travel to India.

2)If I provide the expired I94 while leaving will it cause any issues to go out of the country.What documents should I carry when I am leaving.Please note that I don't have the receipt number for the filed extension yet.Can I leave usa with out the receipt number

3)What will be the usual time to receive the receipt number from USCIS.

4)while the decision is still pending with uscis and the extension is filed for client say abc;i have to move out to a different location and work for a different client say def; is it possible.Please note that my employer will be the same. only the location and client will be different.

5)Also can I move to a different location and work for a different client with out a receipt number also

[Transformer]

It is not advisable to travel while VISA extension is pending with USCIS. But for obvious reasons if you have to travel, just drop your old I-94. Even if it is expired it will not get you into trouble as the extention is already applied.

But you have to understand that if you leave you can't enter into US again until your new H1B is approved and you go for stamping with your new H1B approved petition. Since your extension is applied under regular processing it may take anywhere between 2-4 months and then you need to get the VISA stamping dates. So be prepared to stay in India atleast for 6 months. If you get a 221g while stamping few more additional months.

You can't just move to different location. Employer has to file LCA and amend the H1B petition. It is illegal to work in a different location without approved LCA. If you have all these complications like going to India and changing location, why can't you upgrade your H1B extension to Premium???

[ktim]

Thank you so much. I work for a IT giant from India. My company will not process premium processing.Also I have to go where ever they ask me to go. Thanks again