Urgent help needed: SEVIS status needs to be corrected.

[mahixit]

Hi All,

This is a bit complicated problem as it seems that am stuck between F1 and H1B and looking for some advise.

• My OPT will expire in June 2012 and my employer applied for my H1B without a change of status (CoS) and got it approved on November 14, 2011. I came back to India and got married.
  
• I tried contacting my school to apply for a F2 visa as I am not on H1 status. They denied a new I-20 as they said my status became H1B. Everybody got confused with this as the status was never changed to H1B. We applied for a counselor pick up.
  
• We contacted USCIS and they corrected the issue on December 15 and put me back on the F1, but they failed to correct my SEVIS records.
  
• The school officials seems to be confused about the whole process and not updating my SEVIS back to Active as they believe am still on H1B, neigther they are ready to generate a new I-20 for my spouse.

Now I want to ask you on this issue;

1. How to get the SEVIS back to Active without seeking school's help?
   
2. Can I travel back to states with the approval notice, a valid I-20, but a COMPLETE SEVIS status? Will I be denied at the PoE?

[kabkaba]

Ask your school to contact SEVIS to get a Data fix. They need to make you active first or you cannot travel to US.
Otherwise the most easy option is to obtain H1 and H4 Visas and travel with those.

[mahixit]

Thanks for the advise Kabkaba,


This is exactly what I was trying to do or planned, but my employer is too anxious to get the visa stamped as he is saying it might get rejected. Another point came into my mind is;

• What if I go for H1-H4 stamping while the SEVIS data fix is going on?
  
• What if I get a 221g for H1B and the school corrects my SEVIS, will I be able to fly back on F1?.
  
• What if am denied for H1B stamping but still got some time left on my F1-OPT? will I be able to fly back on F1?

I know all these questions seem dumb, but I need some guidance to get rid of them. Thanks and have a great day.

[mahixit]

Kabkaba please help!

[sbreddy05]

Urgent help needed: SEVIS status needs to be corrected.

Hey i am on OPT and i can be on OPT untill Oct 2013 , but my company sponsored H1-b in starting from Oct 2012 in Consular Processing not in chance of status process , so that i can still stay on OPT untill Oct 2013 and i need to go to home country or canada to get stamping before my OPT expires , everything went well but once i got my H1-b Approved , my Sevis updated to "Completed" but it should be as Student untill my OPT expires as this is not a chance of status H1-B , my University requested a Sevis Datafix on Nov8th and i have booked a ticket to India on Dec5th 2012 without knowing all this , is there any chance i get this done before i leave or atlest if i get assurance that this will be changed i can leave to india and need this to be changed atleast before i return.

Please comment.....How much chances are there that my Sevis gets changed back to Student as my H1-b is not a chance of status, and how much chances are there to get this done before Dec5th.

- - - Updated - - -

mahixit - can you please comment on this , may be your case is now closed you can help me.

Kabkaba - can you please comment.

[kabkaba]

Unfortunately once cannot predict how long it will take. If it is not done by the time you return to US, you may not be allowed to enter. I would advise postponing the trip until you have some resolution. Otherwise, if you choose to apply for H1 Visa while abroad and return in H1 status, this does not matter.