H1B approved petition & I-94 more than 6 years by uscis; Can i stay beyond 6 years ? When to start GC

[Rithik]

Hi 

 

 

 

I came to US on April 2008 on L1B and i have stayed on L1B for 4 years, 6 months and then i transferred to H1B and

I got new H1B petition including new I94 till June 2015; where as my 6 year period excluding the time outside US ends by July 7th 2014.

 

Can someone please kindly help me in clarifying the below questions.

• Is it legal for me to stay more than my 6 year period  in US (by July 7, 2014) even though uscis has given my H1B till June 2015.

 

• When should the  GreenCard process be started for me? Do i need to have both my labour and I140 approved before  6 year  period (July 7, 2014).  OR     Can i start Green card after July 7th 2014.

It would be great help if anyone can update me about these questions. Thank you!

 

Thanks,

Rithik.

 

[omshiv]

Your employer can start your GC process anytime they want. Also, once your Labor gets cleared, you can stay in the US by extending your H1b based on either an approved I-140 or in a pending state.

[JoeF]

Don't stay past the 6 years. If USCIS made an error, they will find out eventually, and if you stay longer than the 6 years you would then end up in trouble.

[dinakar_appaji]

Hi, Thanks for your inputs. I am in similar situation where in I would complete my 6 years stay in US (excluding any timeaway from USA) in Jan 2014. My employer has filed for PERM with department of Labor on 06-JUN-2013 under EB2 category and approval is awaited at this stage. Can you please suggest what are the next steps (such as filing I-140 etc) and what other approvals need to be obtained before I could extend my stay beyond JAN2014 accordingly?