H1-B Extension

[shah2]

This is for my friend. He has been in the US for almost the past 6 years. His 6 years are expiring in a month. He is an employee of a Fortune 500 company.

The lawyers supposedly filed his I-140 premium processing about 3 weeks ago. He was told by the lawyers that the I-140 approvals are coming back in just two weeks. But after waiting for 3 weeks and not getting the approval, he asked the lawyers for the status, and they said that sometimes it takes a little longer. But then he asked for the receipt and the lawyer replied back saying that they haven't even received the receipt yet. Now he is not sure if the I-140 was actually filed and the receipt hasn't arrived yet, or the I-140 was not even filed at all.

Anyway, in parallel, the fillng for H1 extension is also in progress with his lawyers. He has already completed and sent out all the documents, but they haven't filed H1 extension yet as well.

I am a citizen now but I went through all these processes 10 years ago, however I see that the laws have changed quite a bit since then. I want to ask the following questions:

1. Is he eligible for the H1 extension or he needs to get the I-140 approved first? Would the fact that I-140 is pending be enough to apply for H1 extension.

2. If the I-140 approval comes in, does he still need to apply for H1 extension or he can stay in the US and continue to work based on his I-140 approval?

3. Is having the H1-extension application pending enough for him to continue to stay in the U.S. beyond his expiry date, or he needs to get the H1-extension approved before his expiry date to continue to live in the U.S.?

4. What is the official max duration for I-140 premium processing as published by USCIS?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[shervin143]

1. Is he eligible for the H1 extension or he needs to get the I-140 approved first? Would the fact that I-140 is pending be enough to apply for H1 extension.
>>> If the labor was filed 365 days before the 6t year end, then the 7th year extension can be filed. If not, you need both labor and I-140 to get approved to file the 7th year extension.

2. If the I-140 approval comes in, does he still need to apply for H1 extension?
>>> Of course.

3. Is having the H1-extension application pending enough for him to continue to stay in the U.S. beyond his expiry date, or he needs to get the H1-extension approved before his expiry date to continue to live in the U.S.?
>>> He can stay in U.S based on the pending H1B petition. However, if the extension gets denied, then all the time spend in U.S after the I-94 expiry date will be treated as illegal stay.

4. What is the official max duration for I-140 premium processing?
>>> 1 - 3 months by normal process and 15 days by premium process.