Noorah101

Thanks for the reminder.

Rene

IPM

I can empathize with your situation. We have great attorneys who have prepared all our docs but its still a PITA.

We're in Wash DC, and nearest consulates are Toronto or Nassau. Wait times can vary and not all consulates do L1A extensions.

We are flying to Nassau on Sat to do ours. Current wait time is 1 day.
Appointments are limited, but consulate have been generally helpful.

In respect of children, I quote verbatim from the Consulate "All persons must be physically in the Bahamas while the application is being made, minors age 13 and under need not be physically present at the embassy at the time of the appointment but must be physically in the Bahamas."

So basically, they don't have to appear, but they have to be outside of the US. I believe same applies for Canada.

Good luck.

dlake02

So, remember I said this was the last question ?

One more.... Our I-129S expires on 13/11/2013. The sticker in my passport also expires on 13/11/2012.

Immigration solicitor has told us that the L1 extension will take 15 days, can be applied for from the 13th May.

If I get a new I-129 on about the 1st June, can I just carry on travelling with the old sticker until the 13th November ?

In other words, even though it's been renewed, I don't actually have to use the new documents until after the 14th November ?

zerlesen

Yeah, the visa itself only has to be valid on the day you ask to enter. (Assuming from context you meant the visa expires this November.) If you travel with the approval notice from your L-1 extension they should re-admit you until the date on the approval notice, not the date the visa expires.

Fred16

I blundered with my L1 renewal. It expired in Oct2009 and I had the extension. Spoke with work immigration team saying I was going to Toronto for few days do I need to do anything.

No

Returned from Toronto no issue

False sense of security

Went to London for few days and got into trouble on my return

I said to POE, how come was not issue when in Canada

Answer, Canada for short time does not count,
Outside Canada and Mexico does

Had an expired visa since 2010, but with extensions

Explain that

dlake02

Actually the Visa/not-a-Visa thing confuses the hell out of me, so maybe you could help ?

The sticky-picture-thingy in our passports expire on the 11th November 2013.

I have a couple of sheets of A4 marked "I-129" that are stamped with 36 months from 12 Nov 2010.

The white piece of paper stapled in my passport (I-94) says Jan 24 2014.

Which is what ?

Sorry - I've only lived in three European countries in my 40+ years and never had to deal with any paperwork to this degree other than asking to vote in local elections in France which involved a trip to the Town Hall and several Pastis.

Just to be 100% clear. IF we travel to London whilst the original permit is valid (I think that is the I-129 ?) and the Visa is valid (i.e. up until 11/11/2013) even if the new L1/L2 has been issued by then, we can get back into the US ?

We're travelling home in June and can't surrender our passports in London as we're also travelling to France and Belgium as I possibly already said.... Our extensions are being dealt with by immigration peeps on 30th May, so we will likely have permission by the time we travel to the UK on hols.

zerlesen

That's the visa. If you show up at the border without one of those, you won't be admitted. Its purpose is to get you across the border and admitted in the appropriate status, so if it expires the day after you enter the country that's perfectly fine.

That's the petition underlying the whole business. You should also have an I-797, which says that the petition has been approved. It's not a bad idea to travel with all that stuff as well, just in case there are any questions. The I-797 gets you through the door at the consulate to ask for a visa. The visa won't be valid for longer than the duration of the petition.

The I-94 is the arrival/departure record. The date on the I-94 is the date by which you have to leave the US. Like I said, if you show up at the border with a visa that expires tomorrow and you show them an approved petition valid for another year, they're supposed to stamp the I-94 with the later date. (Not sure why you seem to have a bit longer on yours than the validity of the petition.)

If you ever find yourself outside the US with an I-94, something has probably gone wrong. You turn them in whenever you leave to show that you've left; when you come back you get a new one. The I-94 says what status you've been admitted in, and for how long; when you're outside the US you're not in any status at all.

You're extending your status within the US. ("L-1 extension" is ambiguous, I just realized - you're extending the status, *not* the visa.) When the extension is approved, you'll get a new I-797 with a new detachable I-94 on the bottom with a date valid for the rest of the extended petition, signifying that you no longer have to leave when the old one expires. You'll attach the new I-94 to the old one and turn them both in when you leave. Then you just show them all your new paperwork when you come back.

dlake02

zerlesen - THANK YOU !!!!

You have explained this wad of paper much better than any Corporate so-called expert ever has to us.....

zerlesen

It's called Automatic Visa Revalidation. It only applies under certain circumstances, in particular, only for short trips to contiguous territories. I posted a link a page or so back.

zerlesen

You're welcome, and I'm sure if I screwed anything up there it'll be corrected forthwith. I remember freaking out when my F-1 was about to expire many years ago. It seems like it should make a huge difference, but it doesn't (necessarily).

dlake02

Well, just to update people on this, I threw a total wobbler at our legal team this week, with the help of my manager.

My job entails a lot of travel, most of it thankfully outside the US, most of it at short notice and for 3/4 days at a time. We also have a couple of sick elderly relatives in various parts of the EU, so you never know when one of us may need to travel at the drop of a hat....

Exactly what good the shouting did, I don't know - even the immigration lawyers appear personally to have no idea what it is like to travel as us Europeans are just so used to. The clerk who took my paperwork told me she had never been outside California ! (Must have been mid-30s...).

We explained the difficulties in getting to a US Consulate and staying there until Mr Federal Jobsworth had found the Prit-Stick to put the pretty picture in our passports (don't worry - not in those terms) and they said "but what's the problem ? Just take a holiday at Christmas."

We then tried to explain that unlike most Americans (that's the middle-class that have far too much free money here and need to start re-distributing it to those in abject poverty we see all around), we're not made-of-money and have to budget for huge holidays like that - it would be three flights and 10 days minimum in an hotel near London. We've already booked and budgeted for holidays this year and just don't have that kind of money. For the first time EVER in my 40+ years, I'm having to pay an accountant to do my taxes - even as a higher-rate tax payer in the UK, I've never had to do that before. That is over $2000 - an enormous amount of cash. In fact, a family holiday !

Also, we just don't have 10 days when we can surrender our passports to a foreign power - if we're in London and we surrender them, how do we travel to Angers to see our family ???? France has even more stupid rules than America - luckily, most French realise that they are crap rules and ignore them, but find the one Gendarme that has a hangover, and you're in clink.

"Tough" said our helpful legal team ! Exactly what we pay them for, I have no idea.

So, we've reached an impasse. The L1/L2/EAD gets renewed by legal, but we don't get the pictures, so run the risk of not being able to get back into the country we temporarily live in.

Land Of The Free ? HA ! Not for us, or any of the 2/3 of our workforce here on highly restrictive Visas.

Sorry if you are offended by the tone of my post, but frankly it is becoming obvious to us that other than as 21st Century indentured slaves, Americans really don't want foreigners here at all. My manager (US Citizen of Hungarian descent) had no knowledge of the H1/L1 visa system, and when I explained it to him, he was stunned that "his" country treated outsiders so badly. I suspect the majority of USCs are in that boat.

ian-mstm

With respect, people know this when they start the process. If they want the visa, these are the restrictions. It may be the Land of the Free, but there's a price for that freedom! If someone doesn't want to pay the price, they can stay where they are!


Shit... if you had asked, we could have told you that. Americans, by and large, really don't want foreigners here!


Your post is a lot more tame than some I've made over the years!

Ian

HarryTheSpider

+1

I don't know if I could sound so calm in my posting when I'm dealing with the same nightmare you are!

I'm sure by now you've learned not to associate a high service fee with any guarantee of quality!

I have found it normal for managers at my employer to be largely ignorant of the visa process - I work in high tech and we bring people over all the time, and yet managers are ignorant - not their fault at all, and I know it is the same in the UK. My sister works in HR. she used to have to take care of work permits at a previous employer in London. Her biggest issue was manager ignorance.

Anyway, good luck to you.

N1cky

Why on earth are you paying so much to have your taxes done? That's 5x what we pay

ian-mstm

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: ignorance can be cured; stupidity is forever. We all have the opportunity (or obligation, perhaps) to ease ignorance! Sadly, as you've probably noted for yourself, when managers are ignorant - they get other people to do stuff for them, rather than actually learn about the issues themselves.

Ian