Do Not Let Your Nonimmigrant Status Expire!
Posted by Jeff Z. Xie on October 15, 2008 at 16:12:57
Dear Xielaw Individual Clients, If you are a permanent resident (your I-485 application has been approved), please ignore this email and accept my apology for the inconvenience this email may cause. For our other clients, I want to send you this message: Do not easily give up your nonimmigrant status! I would like to bring this matter to your because I've been getting a lot of these kinds of questions lately from people who have encountered status problems. Here are some examples: Example #1: Sherman is an engineer with a company. He has been working for the company for almost 5 years and he has been waiting for his green card approval for three years. The company notified him last Friday that his position was eliminated due to the company’s financial difficulties and advise him to find another job. Sherman filed his and his family’s I-485 applications concurrently with I-140 petition. The I-140 is still pending with USCIS but the company has mailed out the withdrawal letter. Sherman’s wife is working at local supermarket using the EAD. Sherman did not apply for the EAD. Example #2: John filed his I-485 application last July. He was eager to be an entrepreneur. So he registered a company in his name immediately after he received his EAD card. His own business is doing very well and he was making money much more than his salary received from his regular job from the sponsoring employer. Then he quit his job and devoted himself full time to his own business. Now he received a request from USCIS asking him to provide, among other things, a current employment verification letter confirming that he is still working in the same or similar occupation. Example #3: Lisa is an engineer and her employer filed I-140 for her. She did not file her I-485 last year based on her I-140 approval because she decided to file her I-485 application as a derivative family member with her husband’s I-485 application. She is working by using her EAD obtained through her I-485 application. Due to the severe retrogression of the visa numbers, her husband’s and her I-485 application have been pending for several years. Now they have filed a divorce petition in the local court and the divorce will be finalized in 31 days. Her husband fell in love with a young lady in China a year ago and Lisa is pregnant with another man who does not have a legal status in the US. Lisa really wants to keep her good paid job and her legal status. She wants to know her options so badly. Example #4: Kevin is a teacher working at a university. He has been so dedicated to his research projects that he was not paying any attention to his nonimmigrant status. One day Kevin learned about the important of the status and checked his papers. He was surprised to find out that his H-1B expired more than one month ago. Since he has not started the immigrant petition, he does not have other work permits that enable him to continue the job. Now the employer has decided to terminate his job, and Kevin has to leave the US waiting for the new H-1B approval notice for him to apply for the H-1B visa stamp… The university has formally noticed Kevin that his position will be replaced by someone else IF he cannot return to work within 30 days! Many more real stories… Some are even hard to believe! At this point I would like you to do the following: 1. Check your H-1B approval notice to make sure your H-1B is not expiring. You can get your H-1B extension filed within 6 months ahead of the expiration date. Contact me for your H-1B extension/renewal if your H-1B is going to expire soon or in six months. 2. If you have filed your I-485 application and your H-1B is still valid, you should try to keep your H-1B by extending it. However it is also advisable to apply for EAD card and keep the EAD card valid all the time in case that you have emergency situations. A Xielaw client was just laid off not longer ago. He was lucky enough to find a new job several days after being laid off. However the new employer (a state government agency) does not sponsor H-1B at all. He could not take the job because he could not prove his employment eligibility! 3. If you are thinking of changing job/employer by transferring your H-1B to your new employer, you should get your H-1B transfer petition filed BEFORE you can quit the job or notify the employer of your resignation. Due to the 10 day posting requirement, your H-1B transfer paperwork cannot be filed until the notice has been posted for 10 days and until your new employer has signed and returned the signed paperwork to me. Therefore it is advisable to get the paperwork prepared earlier or not to delay the application to the last minutes. 4. Check the expiration date on your EAD if you are working for the employer using your EAD. You must keep the EAD valid all the time. It will take about three months to get the EAD approval. You should contact us at least 4 months ahead of the EAD expiration date for the EAD renewal. 5. One last issue: If both you and your spouse are in H-1B status and your spouse is the principal applicant of the green card application, you should also start your own green card application, as a backup. It will preserve your eligibility for the 7th year H-1B extension if you cannot receive your green card when your H-1B is expiring; It will solve the post-divorce status problem as indicated in the Example #4 above; It will also help your spouse to maintain his/her status or enable him/her to stay in the US if something goes wrong with his/her status or green card application. As American economy goes into the recession, nothing is 100% guaranteed. It is always a good strategy to take the pro-active action on maintaining your own legal status in the US and not to let your nonimmigrant status lapse. No money can buy your status back if you let it lapse! Thank you for reading this message and paying attention to your nonimmigrant status! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Jeff Z. Xie
Attorney At Law
Xie Law Offices, LLC.
1770 Indian Trail Lilburn Road, Suite 450
Norcross (Atlanta), Georgia 30093
Tel: (678) 380-0698
Fax: (678) 380-0668
email: jeff@xielaw.com
website: http://www.xielaw.com
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