Just Say No

Hi all,

I have been working on H1 for 4.5 years and just laid off. I lost the green
card processing since it is a company stuff. Fortunately my wife is a F1 (in
OPT) so I filed a COS from H1 to F2. But she is going to file H1 very soon
and I doubt how INS person calculate my 6 yr limit. Does that mean I MUST
leave after 1.5 years? I must make a decision - if i have to separate with
my wife I would rather stay abroad for some time now.
If for some reason, when my wife switch to H1 status I get the same deadline
date, does that mean I can legally stay here because it is approved by INS?
Associated with the same question: my wife has started the LC process. if I
found a job, how to calculate my remaining dates? Am I able to use the fact
that my wife's LC has been pending for a year(assumedly) to extend my H1
life by that time?

Thanks!

Joachim Feise

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, Just Say No wrote:
    > Hi all,
    > I have been working on H1 for 4.5 years and just laid off. I lost the green
    > card processing since it is a company stuff. Fortunately my wife is a F1 (in
    > OPT) so I filed a COS from H1 to F2. But she is going to file H1 very soon
    > and I doubt how INS person calculate my 6 yr limit. Does that mean I MUST
    > leave after 1.5 years?

Not that tricky. *All* time in any H or L status counts towards the 6-year
limit. The limit is *only* reset by being outside the US for 1 year.
So, you would have to leave after 1.5 years.

    > I must make a decision - if i have to separate with
    > my wife I would rather stay abroad for some time now.
    > If for some reason, when my wife switch to H1 status I get the same deadline
    > date, does that mean I can legally stay here because it is approved by INS?
    > Associated with the same question: my wife has started the LC process. if I
    > found a job, how to calculate my remaining dates? Am I able to use the fact
    > that my wife's LC has been pending for a year(assumedly) to extend my H1
    > life by that time?

No. Your H1 would be completely independent of your wife's GC process.
As I mentioned above, the 6 year limit is cumulative. All the time in any H
or L status is added.

-Joe

Ingo Pakleppa

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002 18:00:17 +0000, Just Say No wrote:

    > Hi all,
    >
    > I have been working on H1 for 4.5 years and just laid off. I lost the green
    > card processing since it is a company stuff. Fortunately my wife is a F1 (in
    > OPT) so I filed a COS from H1 to F2. But she is going to file H1 very soon
    > and I doubt how INS person calculate my 6 yr limit. Does that mean I MUST
    > leave after 1.5 years? I must make a decision - if i have to separate with
    > my wife I would rather stay abroad for some time now.
    > If for some reason, when my wife switch to H1 status I get the same deadline
    > date, does that mean I can legally stay here because it is approved by INS?
    > Associated with the same question: my wife has started the LC process. if I
    > found a job, how to calculate my remaining dates? Am I able to use the fact
    > that my wife's LC has been pending for a year(assumedly) to extend my H1
    > life by that time?
    >
    > Thanks!

As Joe already said, you would only have 1.5 years left on H-4 (the time
on F-2 does not count towards the limit, but the H-4 and H-1B times are
added). But if you find a new job quickly and get your new LC filed before
your fifth year, the six year limit would not apply to you any more. After
the sixths year, you could then keep extending your H-1 until you have
your Green Card. I think this also applies to your wife's case - you could
continue extending the H-4 - but I'm not positive.