H1B amendment - travel to India

[Sujiharan]

Hi All,

I have couple of questions with regards to my VISA status , I have active H1B visa till Jan 2017 , since my passport was due to expire on Apr 2015, i got a new passport here in SFO . So right now i have my active VISA in old passport and new passport . Adding to it i am moving to a different client , but i work for same employer , due to project requirement i am moving to a different client . My questions are

> Since i have two passport ( active VISA) , i am i need to travel to India in June 2016 , do i need to do stamping ?
> Since i am moving to a different location , can i travel to India in June 2016 , or do i need to wait till i get the approved amendment ,


Any help and guidance is highly appreciated .

[shervin143]

> Since i have two passport ( active VISA) , i am i need to travel to India in June 2016 , do i need to do stamping ?
>>> Not required. carry both your old and the new passport with you when you travel. The visa in the old passport will still be valid to re-enter U.S.

> Since i am moving to a different location , can i travel to India in June 2016 , or do i need to wait till i get the approved amendment ,
>>> You need to get the H1B amendment approved to re-enter U.S. You cannot show the old approval notice at the POE when you re-enter. But yu can leave anytime and stay in India until the petition gets approved before to return.

[Sujiharan]

Thanks much for your response .

> Since i am moving to a different location , can i travel to India in June 2016 , or do i need to wait till i get the approved amendment ,
>>> You need to get the H1B amendment approved to re-enter U.S. You cannot show the old approval notice at the POE when you re-enter. But yu can leave anytime and stay in India until the petition gets approved before to return.

>>>> The amendment is going to be for location change , so do i still need to wait to get the amendment approved ?? if so how long will it take to complete the location change amendment completed??


I am desperate to travel to India on June 2016 . So please let me know the best option ...

[shervin143]

You leaving to India is not an issue. To re-enter, it is better to have the amended H1B approval notice associated with the new work location. Otherwise you should carry the previous H1B approval notice and the new amendment receipt notice to show at the POE and explain to the officers about your pending amendment case and hope he issues you an I-94 matching the previous petition. It will work, but it is up to you to decide whether to take that risk or not. It will take about 5-6 months to get a result on the amendment by normal process and 15 days by premium.