8th year H1-B extension approved 4 days after I-140 denial appeal was rejected by AAO -- Is this H1-B extension valid anymore?

[sgonline]

Hi,

My Green Card process was initiated by my company through a San Francisco based Law Firm. My PERM was applied in 2008, for which I had received an RFE and the final approval was received in 2010. After this, my I-140 was applied, which was rejected by USCIS. Within the allowed time-frame, the law firm filed an appeal on the denied I-140 application. I-140 was rejected based on the usage of "Kellogg" language and the appeal was filed to emphasize the importance of "Kellogg" language. The correct / exact details are mentioned in the rejection notice.

On Jun 22nd 2012, my I-140 appeal was rejected by AAO. However, my company received the I-140 denial appeal rejection notice only on July 2nd, 2012.

During this period, my H1-extension for beyond 6th year had also been filed and the H1-extension application (I-129) was approved by USCIS on 26th Jun 2012 (my company has not received the H1 extension approval notice yet, but the status of the application was approved on USCIS.gov website).

In this situation, I would like to understand if the I-140 denial appeal rejection can be challenged or an MTR can be filed (the rejection notice states / seems to indicate that an MTR can be filed within 30 days). I would also like to understand if my approved H1 (which should be till Jun 2013 - as per the filed I-129 application) will continue to remain valid until its expiry date and if it would be legal for me to continue to work in US until that date.

My company's HR representative has mentioned that based on her discussion with the company's law firm (a different one now as compared to the law firm that had filed my case), my H1 approval will not be considered valid as the basis (a pending I-140 appeal) of that H1 approval is not applicable anymore.

Request the inputs from Mr. Murthy or another lawyer.

Thanks

sgonline