How long one can stay outside USA with approved I-140?

[mkatti]

My EB2 priority date is Feb 2011, My I-140 is approved with Employer A.

I came back to India in July 2012 due to some family emergency and still I need to stay in India for next 6 more months or so. Soon I came to India I went for H1 Visa stamping in August 2012 and got approval for 3 more years based on my approved I-140 as I had already completed 5.5 years in USA with my initial H1 B period of 6 years.

Since August 2012 I am working in India with the Employer A's offshore branch office at India.

In March 2013, USCIS person enquired about my job at my client place in USA where I was working on contract basis through my Employer A just before I coming back from USA. USCIS realized that I am no longer working at client place for the last 7-8 months so they revoked my H1 and intimated to my Employer A in USA.

My Employer A told me that once I am ready to come back to USA, they will try to get me a new client/project, arrange to get me a client letter then they can file for H1 again. On my H1 petition approval, again I need to go for fresh visa stamping in India to re-enter USA again. They also said I-140 will be NOT be impacted with all this process and will not expire as my existing H1-B is revoked by USCIS.

My Questions are,

First question: Is my employer response right?

1) Do I need to wait for Yearly H1 quota to apply for H1 or I can apply for it anytime as my I-140 is approved?

2) In case if I can apply for H1B anytime, do I need to file H1B petition first and then go for Visa stamping or I can directly go for Stamping?

3) Anyway now my H1-B petition is revoked, so what about my approved I-140 status? How long will it still be valid? Would there be any impact if I get new H1-B approval ?

4) If I delay to come back to USA due to my personal matter, How long will my approved I-140 will be alive even when I continue working with the same offshore branch of my Employer A ?

Well in advance, thanks for clarifications...

[sriramkarumuri]

According to my understanding, as long as you are with the employer who filed your 140, they dont revoke. In fact most employers dont revoke even if you go out. So, you should be good to get extension to your H1 on 140 in my knowledge with new client letter

[Attorney_25]

One thing that is incorrect is that USCIS first revoked H-1B and then notified your employer. In fact, USCIS must first contact the employer and give a chance to respond to a notice of intent to revoke (NOIR) before revoking the H-1B.

Same thing with the I-140. If USCIS believes that your employer is no longer offering employment to you, they could send a NOIR. This should not happen in your situation and in fact I've never seen it happen even when an employee moves to a new employer, since an employer can continue to offer future employment (via GC process) to an employee although the employee is working for someone else. Main risk to the I-140 is if employer goes out of business or USCIS, in its wide-ranging investigation of I-140 fraud, decides to reopen your I-140 approval and NOIR based on suspected fraud or incorrect approval where they say petition wasn't qualified for approval in the first place. (This is a very good reason to always maintain valid H-1B status, even after filing I-485.)

Other than that, your I-140 will remain valid as long as your employer is offering you a future job.