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Topic: I am a little worried... My H1-B Visa expires on July 16th 2007...
Hi Guys,
After spending 5 years waiting for the backlog, I gave up and moved to a new company. My company filed the PERM on 01/16/2006, and it has been almost 3 months now, and still nothing.
My H1-B visa expires its 6th (SIXTH!!!) year extension already on 07/16/2007... My perm is on the Atlant processing center.
I am kinda desperate... what should I do? I don't think they can renew my H1-B visa unless I get the I-140 (which I will do premium processing) but I need the PERM to come out and it just won't! I think everybody else from this company is getting theirs up to 66 days (it had been the longest wait so far) but now my wait is going all the way to 90 days... and maybe more!
What can I do? I cannot extend my H1-B (I never traveled outside the US ever since I got here)... If lets say 07/16 comes I cannot work anymore... but can they continue my greencard process, and when it comes out everything is fine? Or do I have to go back to my country, wait one year (or more?) and then try to come back again?
*sighs* I hate this whole process/waiting time... I originally thought I did a good move by going to a new company last october... but the labor was coming out in an average of 30days for this company... why the change now? That sucks...
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Do you have a 45 day letter from your old labor cert? Or an evidence to show that your labor has been pending for more than a year? Or if it was approved, you can also use that to extend your h1 for another year.
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The old labor cert was on my previous company, and they would not allow me to continue using it as I left.
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Dude, you should be really worried at this point. When you switched your employer last year, what were you thinking? You cannot file for 7th year H-1 extension unless you have your labor application pending for at least 1 year. And when you switched your company last year, you already had less than 1 year remaining. What were you thinking? Just curious...
Even if you get your I-140 by july of this year, you are not in a position to file for 7th year H-1 extension. Unless you can somehow use your previous employer's labor application... dunno... what does your lawyer say? Why did the new company hire you and even apply for your PERM? They must have had something in mind?
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As long as the old company hasn't used it for another employee or hasn't cancelled the labor cert. And you have a piece of infor like case number or 45 day letter, you can use it. The old company doesn't need to know.
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Having the I-140 approved is sufficient to renew H1-B for an extra 3 years. The requirement to renew H1-B yearly after 6th year is only if I-140 is pending (*which must be pending then for more than 365 days*) or if Labor is pending (*which must be pending for more than 365 days*).
I moved to a new company because with the labor taking around 2 months, I was sure I would be able to get my I-140 with premium processing way before July... but somehow my labor is taking forever :(
I do not have the 45-day letter (my previous company would not allow me to speak directly to the lawyer) and I do not have any process numbers or anything else...
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What you need is the following:
1- get PERM approved by mid May latest
2- then you need to file CONCURRENTLY for I-140, I-485 and I-765 if you are allowed to do that. I know for EB2 this can be done - not sure for EB3... I-765 approval takes 65 days and gives you the EAD card which you use to work while your I-140 and 485 gets approved.
3- if you cannot file concurrently have your lawyer file I-140 with premium processing (again you need to check if that can be done with EB3 as it should clear in two months) and also I-765 to get the EAD card.
I think the H1 route is difficult if you cannot leverage the first labor.
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Hi, Thanks for the ideas. What my company is trying to do is use a pre-approved EB3 labor (I don't know why they didn't do that before... they said they wanted to wait until 06/01 in the hopes my labor would come out!) and file for I-140, I-485, etc, all concurrently while keeping my EB2 labor process. Hopefully something will work out...
But after Virginia Tech, who knows... I might be better off not staying here :D
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Having the I-140 approved is sufficient to renew H1-B for an extra 3 years. The requirement to renew H1-B yearly after 6th year is only if I-140 is pending (*which must be pending then for more than 365 days*) or if Labor is pending (*which must be pending for more than 365 days*).
I don't get it. Both your I-140 and labor (with your new company) will be pending for less than 365 days. Then how can you get a 7th year extension? |
A lot of people get this wrong, including some lawyers, but the law clearly states that in order to renew H1-B visa you must:
1 - Have a labor process pending for more than 365 days OR
2 - Have an I-140 process pending for more than 365 days OR
3 - Have an approved I-140
The other thing is, even if I have to leave the country in July 16th (or around it) because nothing came out, I talked to the lawyer and he said they can continue my green card process, as it is completely independent from having to have a visa. In other words, you don't need to have an H1 visa or any other visa to start the greencard process (or continue one). Usually that's how it is done but in my case they can just continue the process, then I would do the interview part of the process in Brazil and come back here when I got the greencard... all you need is to have a company willing to sponsor for you and they said they would continue the process even if I have to go back in July.
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Sounds good, thanks for clarifying that point.
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The missing step is not having used the 45-letter to get your 7th year extension. Your previous employer neither needs to know nor permission from him needs to be sought.
Since you've missed that step the only way is, which is being properly pursued by current employer, to file for I-140 under premium processing (2 weeks average approval) using the pre-approved EB3 labor.
Of course if your PERM comes through then you just need 3 to 4 weeks prior to your H1B expiration for filing and getting I-140 premium processing approval. An extra couple days would be necessary to prepare and file for your H1B 7th year extension.
I think you're going to make it. Good luck.
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I am exactly on the same position. Did you get your Perm approved? I am holding my breath right now hoping to get it back soon. My 6th year H1 Expires on Aug. 2nd. It sucks that we got affected by this sudden change! :(
Let me know how things go. We are sharing the same problem.
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Just to let you know, I gave up on the EB2 perm, then we got a pre-approved EB3 perm with PD of 07/2003 if I am not mistaken, but then around July 10th if I am not mistaken... I got the I-140 in 2 weeks (with premium processing) but I had done it with the EB3 perm instead... I already got EAD and AP but still waiting for I-485 though. We applied to renew my H1-B visa for 3 more years now as well.
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Congratulations!
What do you mean by waiting for I-485 ? Haven't you filed it under July-Aug17 window?
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