L1 -B blanket I-94 extension petition......pending since January 2013

[leo_usa]

Hello,
I am in US on L1-B blanket visa......my i94 got over in january 2013 and have applied for extension in january only. It ended in RFE in february and responded to rfe in May 2013. My case status now is in RFE response review since may 2013 . Its been 7 months now and my 240 days are going to be over in september second week. So is this normal to have such a long processing times by USCIS these days............can i file a new L1 petition from canada/mexico and how long it gonna take to get any decision from there..........any response is appreciated.

[raghvi]

Hello,
I am in US on L1-B blanket visa......my i94 got over in january 2013 and have applied for extension in january only. It ended in RFE in february and responded to rfe in May 2013. My case status now is in RFE response review since may 2013 . Its been 7 months now and my 240 days are going to be over in september second week. So is this normal to have such a long processing times by USCIS these days............can i file a new L1 petition from canada/mexico and how long it gonna take to get any decision from there..........any response is appreciated.

7 Months indeed is a long time. You should have upgraded to premium. But companies aren't doing that off late as it involves extra cost and why bother when technically a person can work till 240 days . But technically, you have accumulated illegal presence also for this duration too unless you get an approval.

USCIS has been taking a longer time simply because of the number of cases. You can file a new petition from outside US but no one can predict how much time is it going to take. There have been successful cases of doing so.

This is my opinion not legal advice.