L1A Individual Petition Extn Denial - Moved to Offshore - Feasible Options Available

[thkrishna]

Hello All,

I went to US during Sep '13 on L1A Blanket petition (Visa validity was from Oct '12 to Oct '15) and received one extension (L1A Individual Petition) for 2 years in 2015 and my second extension (Individual Petition) in 2017 has been denied, after an RFE ! I have around 16 years of experience in which 12+ years I spent with the current employer who filed my L1A. I am a certified project manager having more than 8 years of experience in managing projects and programs.

RFE requested to provide additional documentation on my day to day responsibilities abroad & in US as a Project/Program Manager. There was a change in my work location and duties, between I filed my extension & responded the RFE. I provided as much information as possible, to address the queries in the RFE through my employer's attorney. As my I-94 has been expired (17th Oct '17) before we could respond the RFE, we submitted the RFE response through premium processing. I noticed the case denial online on Nov 16th, received a copy of the denial letter through my employer on 26th Nov hence wrapped up all affairs in hurry and flied back to India on 5th Dec.

The denial letter stated reasons referring my offshore & onsite responsibilities as well as a reference to the documents submitted as evidence against my abroad & US tasks, saying that they are not in order. There was also a mention about my subordinates' responsibilities too, saying that a graduate is not necessarily required to perform such job tasks !

You can imagine what I went through during this transformation, having a family (with 18 months infant) and home setup in US. Currently 'am working from offshore supporting the same client and the client is willing to get me back onsite, if I have a valid work status. It's been 3+ months since I came back from US and employer/attorney did suggest to have a cooling period (1 year, to restart the 7Y term on my L1A) before I could apply for a visa. They are not ready to file H1B considering my seniority and preferring only L1A, after considerable duration of wait !

I don't see any major references online with similar cases, where opting to file L1A Blanket after L1A Individual petition denial (there are multiple cases, where people tried L1A individual route after L1A Blanket rejections). I request the forum & subject matter experts, to suggest the best possible options I have to regain my work status in US. Is the wait of 1Y is the only optimal choice or should I reapply for L1A through Blanket petition or apply it to USCIS again as L1A Individual petition, addressing all the concerns referred in RFE / denial notice. Really appreciate if you could throw some light on the issue with optimal suggestions.

[sach2482]

Sorry to hear all you had to go through . But we all sign up for uncertainty when we take up American dream .

yes After Individual is rejected going for blanket wont give any different result.

The best course in your case is wait for cool off period and reapply.


by the way what is your gut feeling for why extension wasnt approved ? you mentioned responsibilities were changed , did that influenced ?


Sachin

[thkrishna]

L1A Individual Petition Extn Denial

Thanks for your comments Sachin.

In my case, there was a change in role as well as location between the events 'applying my extension petition' (mid of Jul '17) & 'responding RFE' (Oct '17) ! It could be one of the reasons and delaying RFE response with proper documentation could be another reason !

Could you elaborate, why do you think the decision on L1blanket isn't any different than the individual petition denial? And do you see any impact if the cooling period is less than an year between applications ?

I would also like to know from the gurus in this group on how the cooling period of 1Y gets calculated ? Is it since the date of my I-94 expiry <17th Oct> (or) date when my extension petition was denied <Nov 16th> (or) the day I left the country <5th Dec> ??

Thanks in advance.