englishinfl

Sounds like a good idea.

Giantaxe

Right, that's why I mentioned the "trailing spouse" issue. I am presuming that the L1 got rejected because his employer essentially recruited him for a job in the US but then claimed to immigration that he was an "intra-company transferee" when realistically he wasn't. If so, I wouldn't assume he will ever get an L1, particularly as he's now sitting in the US working on a B1.

And how long its likely to be before he can get an L1 or H1b. Trying to live a life in two countries off one salary is essentially an exercise in futility. $10k really doesn't last long in those circumstances. The only thing I can suggest is renting out the house in Holland. That will at least stanch some of the bleeding in the interim.

memiek

Never thought of it like that. The reason for the rejection was that the employer did not make it clear enough why they needed to bring someone in from outside the US for this job. Although it is a very specialised position, they made a mess of the petition and made it sound like a job almost anybody straight out of high-school could do. They acknowledge the mistakes they made, they were " in a hurry" to get things moving and were strangely hoping the USCIS wasn't going to take a real close look. They failed to produce the right answers so that's where things went wrong.

Renting out the house might be an option, as long as we will be happy with a bit less than the mortgage probably but it is worth while investigating the option, thanks for pointing that out (don't even know why I didn't think of that).

Giantaxe

So what's the status of his visa application now? You said his L1 application was denied "some time ago". Has a fresh L1 application been made and if so when is it expected to be decided on? Absent a strong possibility of an approved H or L visa in the near future, I really think you should think strongly about cutting your losses and leaving the US.

scrubbedexpat099

H1 is a lottery

H4 has no work Authorisation

L1 and L2, well no guarantee, and I can not remember if presence in US in current situation would help.

Plus house might be tricky to let out short term, and long term let may have complications when presence in US is so uncertain.

Plus of course now you never know how positive your job is, and you may not want to over commit.

memiek

As it looks now, a new L1 application will be put in the mail in December this year. This time, with more input form ourselves and a much better description of his previous work experiences and his current job.

Mid December we will go back to Europe anyway for the holidays, it might be we will not come back here but we still hope!

memiek

Yep... we noticed that when the company first applied in 2007

My biggest issue with it. Can see myself just lazing around doing nothing substantial at all. Nice for a couple of months like now but not for years

As far as we know, it does not make make the situation worse that we are here now. It might even help as it does prove that the company does need my husband to do this job (at least... that's what the lawyer reckons)

That is very tricky, at least it is in The Netherlands where there are huge protections for renters but almost none for home owners who rent out there house.

I'll keep on being optimistic, there must be a lottery ticket in the mail for me that wins me millions so all these problems go away and it looks like they never even existed