L1B VISA extension - Help

[vpannur]

Hi,

I'm currently in US on L1B(Blanket) VISA valid till 15-Jul-2015.

My employer is willing to apply for an extension of my L1 VISA.

However i'm travelling to India in the month of december 2015.

My employer is suggesting to apply for an extension at US Consulate rather than applying for an extension after I'm back in US in Jan 2016.

Below is the reason quoted:

- The Blanket petition is already been approved by US consulate
- The consulate has already looked at my case and granted L1B VISA to me once.

Citing the above reasons my employer suggests that the extension getting approved in India is better than applying at USCIS here.

I have the following questions:

- If my extension gets rejected at consulate in India, will I still be able to travel back to US as my previous VISA is still valid?
- What is the possibility that my current VISA will also be revoked?
- What are my chances of getting an extension here at USCIS?

Any replies would be very much helpful and appreciated!!

Thanks!!

[raghvi]

Hi,

I'm currently in US on L1B(Blanket) VISA valid till 15-Jul-2015.

My employer is willing to apply for an extension of my L1 VISA.

However i'm travelling to India in the month of december 2015.

My employer is suggesting to apply for an extension at US Consulate rather than applying for an extension after I'm back in US in Jan 2016.

Below is the reason quoted:

- The Blanket petition is already been approved by US consulate
- The consulate has already looked at my case and granted L1B VISA to me once.

Citing the above reasons my employer suggests that the extension getting approved in India is better than applying at USCIS here.

I have the following questions:

- If my extension gets rejected at consulate in India, will I still be able to travel back to US as my previous VISA is still valid?
- What is the possibility that my current VISA will also be revoked?
- What are my chances of getting an extension here at USCIS?

Any replies would be very much helpful and appreciated!!

Thanks!!

Consulate does not approve a petition USCIS does. Merely having a previous approved L1B in itself is not a valid reason for a successful fresh stamping as circumstances change. There have been cases where in L1B candidate approved few years back was rejected upon re interview.

- If your extension gets rejected and if previous visa is not revoked, yes you can travel on the visa.
- If at all they reject L1B they most probably will revoke the earlier one too.
- Hard to tell. It all depends how strong your claim for specialized knowledge is.

Check the latest memo http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/f...-L-1B-Memo.pdf

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[vpannur]

Thanks a lot Raghvi!! This helps a lot!!