Bonestable

My H and I have been in the US for 10 years, him on an H1B and me on an H4.

He is hoping to transfer to a job in Canada in the spring, which of course will mean his and my visas are canceled.

I would like to stay in the US for a couple of months after he has gone so the kids (US citizens) can finish the school year.

Ideally we would go to Canada with H for a week or so and then the kids and I would return to the US. However I am worried they would be suspicious if I try to enter under visa waiver given that I have been living here for so long.

I am also not sure how long I am allowed to stay to organize shipping belongings etc after H has finished work. I am guessing a couple of months is too long, though.

Ray

I believe its expected to be an immediate leaving at the cessation of the employment ..
I would not push it past a week or two

meauxna

You should be able to put in a change of status to 'B' for your purposes; can you call the company immigration lawyer for assistance?

edit: that might put the kaibosh on going to Canada for a visit however.

Bonestable

I hadn't thought of transferring status to a B. I will look into that.

Letting the kids finish the school year in the US is more important than taking a trip to Canada before we move out there.

SarahG

How did you get 19 years in US on H1B/H4 visas? I thought max was 6. Only ask as I am in US on H4.

lisa67

If you apply for LPR you can renew your H visas every year until a decision is made about your LPR application. I don't know if this is how the OP did it, but this is how we have

Bonestable

We have been here 9 years (not 19). The original H1(B) and H4 were valid for 3 years, and then we renewed them for 3 years.

We applied for LPR and after that were allowed to renew the visas annually. Once the LPR application reached a certain stage we were allowed to get 3 year renewals of the H1 (B) and H4. We can continue to get 3 year renewals until Green Cards are issued.

I think you are right that without the LPR application 6 years is the limit.

JAJ

So if you go to Canada, is the intention to abandon your plan to get green cards?

fatbrit

You don't say whether the kids are USCs or not. If not, they will be violating B status by attending school.

Bonestable

Children are both US citizens, so there is no problem there.

Bonestable

Yes, the plan is to move to Canada and abandon the Greencard application.

The application was approved last spring, but who knows when the Greencards will actually be issued. We applied for them in 2003 - it is a very long process, with every step taking a ridiculous amount of time.

We have enjoyed living here, but don't want to live here permanently. Of course it would be nice to have the option to come back if things didn't work out somewhere else, but we are not prepared to wait. Even if the Greencards were issued next week then we would effectively have to live here another 5 years to get Citizenship and therefore flexibility about which country to live in without losing status. By this time the kids would be old enough to argue with where we chose to go! Of course it is not ideal that they are USCs and we are not, but that is the way it is.

SarahG

I saw I made that typo earlier, I meant to say 10. I hate the keypad on my phone!

fatbrit

That's good!

Off-the-cuff idea: do an educational course for a semester to give yourself a suitable status.