Re-enter USA before 1 day of L1B petition expiry

[Saravanan Gandhi]

Dear There,

I am staying in the US with L1B visa and a valid petition to work in the US. I am admitted to work until this Nov-01, my employer has filed an extension already on end of Jul. The application is pending with USCIS for processing. I may need to travel to India for a short vacation in Oct and will be planning to reenter on Oct 31 (just one day before my current petition expires).

Is it possible for me to reenter the US on Oct 31? Please note I have valid visa until Nov-2020 and an passport valid until Dec-2018.

Thanks for your help, and much appreciate it.

Thanks,
Saran

[Devika.Sharma]

Dear There,

I am staying in the US with L1B visa and a valid petition to work in the US. I am admitted to work until this Nov-01, my employer has filed an extension already on end of Jul. The application is pending with USCIS for processing. I may need to travel to India for a short vacation in Oct and will be planning to reenter on Oct 31 (just one day before my current petition expires).

Is it possible for me to reenter the US on Oct 31? Please note I have valid visa until Nov-2020 and an passport valid until Dec-2018.

Thanks for your help, and much appreciate it.

Thanks,
Saran

Hi Saran,

This is a very risky move as you might be asked to show your petition paper (I-797) at the entry port. Also, your L1B visa must be having a petition end date( notice on bottom right) . Also, you will be issued a new I94 at the entry and sometime they give you I-94 based on you petition end date( happened in my case) . My suggestion is that don't take risk...!!!

[Andrew Hanson]

I am in a very similar situation, however i plan to return about 7 days prior to my current expiry (my visa expires 2019 but my petition expires Jan 31st), the extension has been applied for and my Receipt has come through but not the approval, obviously this will take a while.

I'm also trying to work out whether i will be ok to return, technically, i am still allowed in the country until the 31st January, so returning should not be a problem, but im looking for a more definite answer.

[Andrew Hanson]

Just to share,

I just had a conversation with the company lawyer here about my Extension and vacation plans for January,

He advised that as my Visa Stamp, my current I-129 Approval, and my passport are all valid, i should not have any problems reentering.

however if my I-129 extension gets approved while i am outside of the country, and i return on my old approval, my I94 will only reflect my old date (31 Jan 2017) and as such to get this renewed to be accurate, i would have to leave and reenter using my new Approval Notice again, probably a trip up to Canadian border to get this done.

Please do not take this as a definitive as each circumstance is different.