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Thanks in advance for any answers to my questions. I need to know the following:
1. If I choose to overstay my L1 visa by less than 180 days, will I be still able to renew my L1 visa at a Canadian consulate as a non-Canadian citizen?
2. If I choose to overstay my L1 visa by less than 180 days, will there be any impact on my current green card application which has already received Labor Certification approval?
Here is my current situation. I am a Singapore citizen in Jersey City on a blanket petition L1 visa which expires at the end of this month on 31st May 2014. My I-94 also expires on 31st May 2014. I have not looked into the renewal process until now, since according to the State Department website http://travel.state.gov/contenthttps...onto&x=92&y=15, the appointment wait time in Toronto is only 4 days, and processing time is only 2 days, so I thought I'll have plenty of time for my employer to plan my visa renewal trip around my existing work commitments. In other words, I thought I'll be able to apply now, and get the appointment in the week of 20th May, and get the visa within a few days.
To my horror, when I tried scheduling my visa appointment at the Toronto consulate at usvisa-info.com, it states that the next available appointment is in 150 days, and not 4 days! This means that my current L1 visa will expire before the appointment.
To avoid this, I can turn to plan B, and fly back to Singapore as soon as possible to get the visa renewal done from my home country. But I prefer going to Toronto, since it's only a 6-hour drive away, and my company has an office there from which I can work in the meantime.
I've learnt that overstaying my visa for more than 180 days will result in a 3-year ban. If I schedule the appointment in Toronto in 150 days, this means that at the time of appointment, I will have overstayed my visa by about 120 days. Is this a wise course of action? Will my blanket petition visa request be rejected if I have overstayed my current one by any number of days? Will it also be complicated by the fact that I am not a Canadian citizen? https://usvisa-info.com/en-ca/selfse..._united_states says that this plan is not advisable, but I'm hoping that there's a workaround.
Or, is there any way to expedite my visa appointment in Canada, so that I can get the renewal done before my current visa expires?
As for my 2nd question, I'm presently in the process of applying for a green card (permanent residency). The immigration firm has recently confirmed that my application has received Labor Certification Approval, and that my EB-3 priority date is Sep 2013. The current cutoff date is Oct 2012, so I have several months to go before obtaining my green card. My question is, if I choose to overstay my L1 visa and be "illegal" for about 120 days before getting my L1 visa renewed in Toronto (assuming it gets approved), will my temporary "illegal" status have any impact on my green card application?
1. If I choose to overstay my L1 visa by less than 180 days, will I be still able to renew my L1 visa at a Canadian consulate as a non-Canadian citizen?
2. If I choose to overstay my L1 visa by less than 180 days, will there be any impact on my current green card application which has already received Labor Certification approval?
Here is my current situation. I am a Singapore citizen in Jersey City on a blanket petition L1 visa which expires at the end of this month on 31st May 2014. My I-94 also expires on 31st May 2014. I have not looked into the renewal process until now, since according to the State Department website http://travel.state.gov/contenthttps...onto&x=92&y=15, the appointment wait time in Toronto is only 4 days, and processing time is only 2 days, so I thought I'll have plenty of time for my employer to plan my visa renewal trip around my existing work commitments. In other words, I thought I'll be able to apply now, and get the appointment in the week of 20th May, and get the visa within a few days.
To my horror, when I tried scheduling my visa appointment at the Toronto consulate at usvisa-info.com, it states that the next available appointment is in 150 days, and not 4 days! This means that my current L1 visa will expire before the appointment.
To avoid this, I can turn to plan B, and fly back to Singapore as soon as possible to get the visa renewal done from my home country. But I prefer going to Toronto, since it's only a 6-hour drive away, and my company has an office there from which I can work in the meantime.
I've learnt that overstaying my visa for more than 180 days will result in a 3-year ban. If I schedule the appointment in Toronto in 150 days, this means that at the time of appointment, I will have overstayed my visa by about 120 days. Is this a wise course of action? Will my blanket petition visa request be rejected if I have overstayed my current one by any number of days? Will it also be complicated by the fact that I am not a Canadian citizen? https://usvisa-info.com/en-ca/selfse..._united_states says that this plan is not advisable, but I'm hoping that there's a workaround.
Or, is there any way to expedite my visa appointment in Canada, so that I can get the renewal done before my current visa expires?
As for my 2nd question, I'm presently in the process of applying for a green card (permanent residency). The immigration firm has recently confirmed that my application has received Labor Certification Approval, and that my EB-3 priority date is Sep 2013. The current cutoff date is Oct 2012, so I have several months to go before obtaining my green card. My question is, if I choose to overstay my L1 visa and be "illegal" for about 120 days before getting my L1 visa renewed in Toronto (assuming it gets approved), will my temporary "illegal" status have any impact on my green card application?
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