L1B to H4 in India.

[Cognossaint]

My wife has a L1B visa stamped recently and she was to travel sometime this month, but the project got cancelled and so she is still in India. I am in the US from past 6 months, so i want to apply for H4 for her, is there going to be any issue with this ? My Visa is valid till May 2015.

Do we have to cancel the L1B Visa first or by applying for H4, the L1B will not stand valid anymore ?

Your feedback will be very valuable to me in this case.

[raghvi]

My wife has a L1B visa stamped recently and she was to travel sometime this month, but the project got cancelled and so she is still in India. I am in the US from past 6 months, so i want to apply for H4 for her, is there going to be any issue with this ? My Visa is valid till May 2015.

Do we have to cancel the L1B Visa first or by applying for H4, the L1B will not stand valid anymore ?

Your feedback will be very valuable to me in this case.

All that she needs to do is book H4 visa appointment and attend the H4 visa interview with valid proofs of you maintaining H1 status as well as proof of her marriage with you.

While issuing the H4 visa , the Consulate may or may not cancel the L1 visa (they most probably will) and mark is CWOP (Cancelled Without Prejudice).

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[Cognossaint]

All that she needs to do is book H4 visa appointment and attend the H4 visa interview with valid proofs of you maintaining H1 status as well as proof of her marriage with you.

While issuing the H4 visa , the Consulate may or may not cancel the L1 visa (they most probably will) and mark is CWOP (Cancelled Without Prejudice).

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thanks for the response. What is CWOP, will she have a problem if it needs to apply for H1 or L1 again sometime later ? Once she come to US on H4, can her status be changed to H1 after some time period if we can get an employer ?

Thanks much.

[raghvi]

CWOP is a stamp on the visa. What it means generally is that an administrative mistake in the visa or that the visa is a duplicate or that visa is not required as the person is moving to another visa.Though the visa is cancelled, it does not affect the validity of other visas in the passport nor affects decision on future visas.

So to answer to your question, even if they mark the L1 visa as CWOP she can always re apply L1 later on, and can also apply H1 later on.

As for the part of her being able to move to H1, does she have a previous H1 approved petition in last 6 Years?

If yes, then she can have the employer file a H4 to H1 Change of Status after finding an employer.

But if she never had an H1 she would need to be first part of the Cap. Current H1 cap opens on 01-April-2014. Last year the Cap got filled in 1 Week this year also seems similar. So unless she find an employer in next week who is filing H1 petition for her, I am afraid she doesnt stand much chance of being able to move to H1 this year and would have to wait till 01-April-2015 to file in next year's cap.

This is my opinion not legal advice.