Travel to India on expired H4 visa & I94

[rohit12jan]

I'm on H1B visa with my dependents having H4.
Our Visa & I94 are already expired on 01 Oct 2015. Our extension is applied & result is still pending from USCIS.
Now my dependents have to travel to India due to some family emergency.
So can you please guide me what options are available for them. Can they travel without a valid visa & I94?

[shervin143]

Well, if they travel now, their extensions will be denied. The time that they have spent in U.S post the last I-94 expiry date will be considered to be illegal stay. Going forward, while filling DS160, they have to answer YES to the question related to illegal presence and then mention the reason stating that the extension was filed in time, but had to leave because of an emergency. I am not sayingthis will cause any issues with the future stamping. But they need to mention that and the VO will decide on how to act.

Also, if they have to travel, then they can return back only after your H1B extension gets approved.

[rohit12jan]

Well, if they travel now, their extensions will be denied. The time that they have spent in U.S post the last I-94 expiry date will be considered to be illegal stay. Going forward, while filling DS160, they have to answer YES to the question related to illegal presence and then mention the reason stating that the extension was filed in time, but had to leave because of an emergency. I am not sayingthis will cause any issues with the future stamping. But they need to mention that and the VO will decide on how to act.

Also, if they have to travel, then they can return back only after your H1B extension gets approved.

Thanks for the quick reply. I've few more questions.
1) Before leaving US, is there any way we can get approval/inform USCIS so that the current stay will not get considered as illegal stay?
2) If they travel out of US, there extension application will be denied. Will it affect in any way to my extension application?

[shervin143]

1) Before leaving US, is there any way we can get approval/inform USCIS so that the current stay will not get considered as illegal stay?
>>> Unfortunately NO. Also, there is no premium processing for H4. However, there are multiple cases when the H1B is upgraded to premium, the H4 also gets processed within the same time frame.

2) If they travel out of US, there extension application will be denied. Will it affect in any way to my extension application?
>>> Nope. It will have no impact on your H1B application.