L1B extension, getting married and travelling outside of US

[nemenhurrudu]

Dear all,

My situation is as follows:

- Been living and working in US since Apr -18
- My initial 3 years ended in Feb -21
- My company has filed for an extension, currently still in that process
- I'm marrying a US citizen in June -21
- We are not intending to stay in the US, plan is to move to my home country in the first half of -22

We both really would like to travel to my home country for a visit after getting married. As a married couple we do both fall under the exemptions to enter both my home country and US during current covid restrictions. My question is how this may have an impact if I'm still in the process of extending my visa. I do understand that in normal cases one is not able to leave the US while extension of visa is ongoing, but I'm unsure if I fall under that category being that I'll be married to a US citizen.

I'm being advised by my company to not leave the country on the basis of unclear situation due to covid, looking for a second opinion with you.

Your help is much appreciated!

[Libra_14]

You need a valid visa & valid petition or GC in your hand to be able to re-enter back into USA - doesn't matter you are married or single.

You can leave USA anytime. I assume your visa is not expired, but will still need to wait outside until your petition is approved & someone send the "original" approval notice to you outside USA, so that you can re-enter.

Or else you apply for your GC based on your marriage with USC, get it approved (GC in hand) before you can leave USA - which can easily take ~6 months from the day you file for it with USCIS.

Lastly you can also apply for GC abroad - which can take 6 to 48 months based on your citizenship.

[nemenhurrudu]

You need a valid visa & valid petition or GC in your hand to be able to re-enter back into USA - doesn't matter you are married or single.

You can leave USA anytime. I assume your visa is not expired, but will still need to wait outside until your petition is approved & someone send the "original" approval notice to you outside USA, so that you can re-enter.

Or else you apply for your GC based on your marriage with USC, get it approved (GC in hand) before you can leave USA - which can easily take ~6 months from the day you file for it with USCIS.

Lastly you can also apply for GC abroad - which can take 6 to 48 months based on your citizenship.

Thank you very much for your response Libra_14. Yes you are correct in the assumption that my visa is not expired yet, it expires in February -23. I think I mixed up being allowed to enter the US (need to have valid visa & petition or GC) with the exemptions to non-citizens to be considered to be allowed to enter during the pandemic (spouse of a citizen).

Like I mentioned - we are not intending to stay in the US and this has been my main point on why I won't be pursuing a GC at this moment. Doesn't it look bad if I apply for a GC and lets say I get it approved while still living in the US and then the first thing I do is move away from the country? I don't want to mess anything up if for some reason we'd like to move back here in the future.

Based on your response it seems like the best thing is for me to wait for my extension to get finalized before travelling outside of the US.

[Libra_14]

Based on your response it seems like the best thing is for me to wait for my extension to get finalized before travelling outside of the US.

That's correct. And border-closing is a totally different ball-game - no one can predict that.