L1B expired, L1A not approved

[vickysingh]

Hi, I am reaching my L1B cap of 5 years on 30april,2013. My company has applied L1A conversion in premium category on April 16 and as per USCIS website my L1B to L1A conversion application 15days count for premium category started on April 19. Now situation is my 5 years on L1B are getting over on April 30 but my I94 and Visa are valid till July 26,2013. Now my company says if I do not get decision on L1A by April 30 it is better i go on 1 week of Loss of Pay and wait for decision from USCIS. They say as i am on loss of pay for a week my stay would not be counted as overstay as my visa application is still pending with uscis plus i have valid i94.

my question is would this 1 week of me being on LWP would in future be counted as overstay and does it impact my future visa chances.

[nicoeppersma]

Hi, I am reaching my L1B cap of 5 years on 30april,2013. My company has applied L1A conversion in premium category on April 16 and as per USCIS website my L1B to L1A conversion application 15days count for premium category started on April 19. Now situation is my 5 years on L1B are getting over on April 30 but my I94 and Visa are valid till July 26,2013. Now my company says if I do not get decision on L1A by April 30 it is better i go on 1 week of Loss of Pay and wait for decision from USCIS. They say as i am on loss of pay for a week my stay would not be counted as overstay as my visa application is still pending with uscis plus i have valid i94.

my question is would this 1 week of me being on LWP would in future be counted as overstay and does it impact my future visa chances.

Your employer is correct. If your 5 years on L-1B are over on April 30, you will no longer be authorized to work. However, as long as your I-94 is valid, you do not accrue illegal presence since you have been admitted for that period of time.

Being on leave without pay avoids you working "illegaly" since you no longer have valid work authorization, even though your I-94 is still valid.

It may be interesting for you to know that you can "capture" unused days. This means that if you traveled outside of the U.S. during your 5 years, you may recapture some of those days. For example, if you left on Feb 1st and returned on Feb 7, you may reclaim 5 days.