XaviasUS

Hi everyone, oh my, I wish I had found this place years before.

As title suggests I have been in USA with my wife on an L1-B Visa for 3.5years. I just got notified on Friday that my extension had been denied - this has never happened in the company I work for (big multinational) so they are all waiting on the "letter" which will detail the why.

I am officially terrified, not slept all weekend and just have visions of ICE arresting me and taking us to the airport. I even have a minor tick right now due to the stress and nerves.

We are settled in the USA with a lovely home and some land and we keep bees and chickens, we love our life here and on talking with my company and attorneys during process it was never explained as likely an issue, but clearly something has gone "bump" and now we are in a terrible place of a mortgage, cars, bikes, some debts and the idea of not having a job in 10 days.

I did get an RFE a few weeks back and that made me nervous, I discussed with attorneys and my company and they all gave impression it was nothing to worry about....clearly it was. Perhaps being typically British I failed to explain how important or specialized my skill set is.

My questions are:
1 - Can we contest the decision, what are the legal options?
2 - I f yes to 1 - can we stay in the USA (where our life is)?
3 - If no to 1 - does anyone have any experience of timing for removals (selling a home in 10 days is unrealistic).

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. My opinion is the current administration is to blame for the fiasco at USCIS but that doesn't help me get answers, so I found you all.

Does anyone know a fantastic immigration lawyer in Boston, MA or Hartford, CT area that has handled this type of issue before?

Much Love.

tom169

Was your employer pursuing permanent residency for you?

tht

Confused, I thought L1b was 3+2 years for 5 maximum? So don’t don’t understand how you are 3.5y, recapture of time outside the US?

Getting your own lawyer may be a good idea, but only really if you don’t think your employer is doing it’s best to keep you here, if they are I am not sure spending your own money will help unless the issue is with something unrelated to the job. But if you do I would focus on their experience with a case like yours not their geographical location. You likely won’t need to meet them in person so unless your need them to come to represent you in person in court.

It seems like you jumped in to US life and went all in, I was concerned about this kind of situation and waited to take on commitments like a mortgage and car etc until I had my green card in hand, precisely for the reason you give, unwinding even a rental is not that doable inside 10 days. I actually did write to my USC girlfriends Congress woman to get mine moved along, that may be an option for you as well, but not sure what your reason wound be, in my case I cited the negative impact on her (a USC) , as I was waiting to but an apt for us to live in together.

I went through all this during the Obama admin and there was just as little information available from USCIS then.

XaviasUS

Yes, my Green Card application is currently going on as well. My employer was equally as confused as me and they had legal look into it as they speak to immigration attorney.

XaviasUS

Yes the VISA is 3 + 2 (It is 3 years and 2 years extension - it is the extension I have been denied at but as yet I haven't received the paperwork giving me the reason). My 3 years was up, they filed for extension and it is only now getting processed/replied to, that is the extra time, it's actually 3yrs and 7 months- it got denied. No job change, if anything I have more responsibility but fundamentally I do the same role as when I originally got my L1b.

Very confusing and hoping it is just an obvious error but its the seriousness of "denied" and you just have to leave the country with little time to tie up loose ends. I have been getting assured by my attorneys that it was all very routine at this stage and when I queried anything I had to give for example RFE it was dismissed as no big deal, but clearly it was a big deal.

I was hoping someone on the forum had such an experience and had some recourse in changing the denial and how that process worked.

tom169

I would recommend you ask these questions to the immigration attorneys working on your case.

hmvsdog

So sorry this is happening to you. This was always my worst nightmare and it still gives me chills thinking about it.

Do you know which category green card you have been petitioned for? Based on your above, I would assume EB-2. Next question would be, did you file concurrently and have a pending I485? Next question would be, do you also have an EAD tied to that pending I485?

If the answers to all those are yes, then you are ok as you can use your EAD to work and are allowed leave to remain until your I140/I485 are adjudicated. If no, you need to wait for the letter and let the attorneys do their thing.

S Folinsky

It appears you only have electronic notice of denial. Absent the actual written denial, one can’t evaluate what happened.

There are possible avenues of appeal and/or motions to reopen or reconsider.

As general practice, the minions of the dark forces do not show up immediately to enforce departure. Even if they do, it has to go through immigration court and that takes time. Even then, it is most likely that you would be free from custody.

I am retired so my contacts with the immigration bar are not as good as they used to be. I knew Elizabeth Leete in Hartford to be knowledgeable, skilled, and a nice person. Also, in looking for immigration counsel, look at New York City.

Again, one can’t tell the severity of the problem until one sees the actual denial. Noting you had an RFE, members of the immigration bar have reported multiple instances of CIS claiming either no response or blatantly ignoring the contents of the response.

Good luck.

Kooky.

I'm sorry you're going through this. I have been speaking with a fantastic immigration lawyer in NYC, she's Australian (our visa is Oz-based) but I'm sure could advise. <<<SNIP>>>

Should the only option be to leave, you could look at applying for a B2 six month tourist visa to give you more time. I've been advised these can take about 45 days to process. We are preparing for all eventualities (which is great "fun") and could be in a similar situation, and the 60 day grace period on our specific visa seems a bit short right now, with current travel challenges. And, if I'm honest, 6 months down the warmer coast with a non-working husband sounds really attractive right now.

robtuck

I know this is not L1B based, but I had an RFE last year when applying for the Green Card - the company's engaged law firm were surprised, so took it very seriously and suggested we over respond rather than treat it as a matter of course. They later advised they have seen an uptick in RFE's (this is anecdotal, I cannot confirm any data). Mine was EB1C, moving from L1A.

As mentioned by others, if you are in process on the Green Card side, you could well be covered - how are the companies legal firm at handling questions from you direct? Mine were very open to dealing directly with me, which did help I think. In fact, our HR team pretty much got out of the way and left me to work with them almost as the client (I understood full well that I am not!).

Best of luck.

Jerseygirl

Please do not ask our members to send private messages. Please read the following stickied thread:

Do Not Send PM's or Emails Asking Private Immigration Questions

capin

Sometimes you just have to roll the dice.

I bought my house in NC after being here for a year on an L1B in 2016. House prices have jumped 30% in the past 4 years. Even if my GC is denied, I've made a nice little profit on the house and with a 2.875% mortgage rate, I've lived practically rent free for the past 4 years.

TexanScot

Yes, likewise.

I live in an area with an extremely hot property market, and it just made no financial sense to continue renting when the cost of borrowing was so cheap.

I admit I was somewhat nervous about having such a large financial commitment hanging over me whilst my immigration status was somewhat out of my hands, but I felt confident enough in the market at the time that I would have been able to sell the house for at least enough to come out in a cost-neutral position if I ever had to. Of course that was before COVID-19 and I'm not sure at all that I'd make the same decision if faced with it today, but back then it seemed like a reasonable gamble to take.

tht

You don’t have to... but you can choose to...

My concern was that with “employment at will” and visa tied to job that was not a risk I wanted to take. That said if you can rent your property and cover the costs you can keep it even if you leave. I see so many people here buying and then selling to “upgrade” or “build their dream home” after only 3-5 years owning.. and often the closing costs of the sale and new purchase wipe out much if not all of a gain...

And yes when you strip out inflation, a rate close to 2.5% on a 25-30y mortgage is basically free money. Just did a refi on Friday and considering one on another property.

capin

All reasonable considerations.

The one thing I would change is that I would have taken a 30 year mortgage rather than a 15 and invested the difference in some kind of IRA or savings vehicle.