laety

Hi
We have just been told that my husband company is going to lay off 500 people... He is an h1b and im 35 weeks pregnant
We dont know if he will be affected yet but just in case i wanted to be prepared...
If its the case what are our options especially from a healthcare insurance point of view.. I hear it can take about 60 days to have cobra taking over but if he looses his job, we have to get back to the uk very soon if he cant find a job soon after.. And i cannot fly anymore so it would be too late for me to get back tothe uk to give birth
What could we "negociate" with the company to try to keep things as simple as possible? Thank you..
Ps.. We are in california, in case it makes any differences..

Nutmegger

My experience is with CT, but there should be no gap in coverage with COBRA. The company completes the form indicating your termination date and sends it to the HI company; the HI company contacts you to ask if you want to start to pay for the coverage yourself; there is a period of time in which you must respond. If you say you want the coverage to continue, there is no gap.

PS Sorry to hear your tough news -- fingers crossed you won't be involved.

laety

Thank you, so do I...
So if i give birth in the mean time the ins co cant deny us the reimbursements, thats good! But what about us staying in the country until the child is 'old' enough to travel? Im thinking 2 months old at least... What would the gov do as i understand that we have something like a month to leave the country...

Mummy in the foothills

You can get all the paperwork ready for the passport ahead of time and fill in the name and date of birth last minute and take a picture in the hospital, white background baby lying down picture from above, and send it off for the fast processing, costs more but worth it. We flew with our Ds at two months and everything was fine, he's have been fine by 6 weeks really, he nursed and slept all the way to UK. Tiny babies travel well.
I hope everything works out well for you. I never got past 37 weeks with my guys. So seeing you are already 35 weeks, start getting the paperwork in order just in case.
I wonder if you can register the baby as UK citizen by descent, birth abroad from within the UK or does it have to be done from abroad?

laety

Thank you its a great idea to prepare the paperwork ahead of time, i think it is possible to register the birth / do a uk passprt once in uk because i found this link that mention "if baby is born outside uk"
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...port/index.htm

Bob

Change of Status to B2 to wrap up affairs. COBRA will probably be $1-1.5K a month but depending on the plan, that might be per person. The baby should be considered you, for the first 30 days at least.

You could fly back to the UK in a couple of weeks rather than a couple of months.

Good luck with it though!

As for paperwork, the baby will need a US passport...and it's worth getting the UK consular birth registered, though you don't need to bother get the certificate. Might be worth getting the UK passport if you're moving back though, so worth getting your bits and pieces together to apply for that.

md95065

Let's hope it doesn't happen, but it is always a good idea to be prepared.

COBRA coverage will be continuous so you shouldn't have any problem there.

I believe that you (and your husband) could apply to adjust status to B2 by filing form I-539 in the event that he does get laid off and cannot, or does not wish to, find another employer and get his H1-B transferred.

Zen10

When I read stories like this and see the amazing advice that gets offered by posters involving all these complex forms and deadlines I ask the same thing every time - wouldn't it be easier if the US just had a proper immigration system and a proper healthcare system? The current systems seem to have evolved with no guidance or forethought.

"Just fill out an I-6734 before you file the M-3746 but make sure you do so from outside the US and on a Sunday or your K22 will be null and void and then your healthcare will be suspended unless you've already filed a 667JJK in the state you were living in at the time and a T544BN in the state of entry when you return to files your A88M with the customs people." Headache!

laety

Trouble is to do a uk passport the deadlines are pretty long, i already have to wait 1 month before i can get the birth certificate ( already called to double check) and then uk passport takes around 7 weeks to receive.. Its pretty bad!

So i assume if i transfer the status to visitor, i can still be under cobra? How long does it takes to have the transfer approved?

Ohhh what a headache! I hope he will be fine, but cant help to be really put off by this situation and country laws.. I start to wonder if its worth it

md95065

Yes, the change of status should not affect your insurance coverage.

Not sure how long it takes to get the change of status approved but you should be good to stay in the US while the application is pending. (You might, however, want to consult an immigration attorney just to makes sure that you understand exactly what is involved).

Steve_

The way the law is written it basically means you have to leave immediately, but that is interpreted by the courts as a "reasonable" amount of time, which USCIS seem to think means 10 days. However the port director has discretion in this matter, they can let you off from short overstays in the event of an emergency (as determined when you re-enter the US). If you can't travel due to medical reasons, that is the #1 reason they typically accept. Just have proof of it when you enter if the question comes up.

So basically I wouldn't worry about it on the immigration front, you can file an I-539 to change status to B-2 if you want. If you get asked why you're changing status, say you're unable to depart due to your advanced pregnancy and obtaining UK paperwork for the baby.

Being in a non-immigrant status has no bearing on COBRA but being non-resident for tax purposes does, so if you're resident for tax purposes you are covered.

laety

sounds fair enough
We should be fixed on our situation in the next couple of weeks, but there will not be any problems at all with my doctor writting a note to them if this will become necessary
thank you all :-)

Steve_

Well that's true, because US Federal law is rarely revamped entirely from scratch, it evolves over time with amendments, usually.

A lot of the problems people have come about through the re-entry procedure, an example being multiple entry I-94s.

When the law was originally enacted in 1924, this paperwork never seemed like it would be much of an issue, because you had to get on a ship to leave and re-enter, unless you were going to Canada or Mexico, which is why Canadian visitors don't get issued I-94s and why Mexicans (who still have to have a visa) also don't need an I-94 if they travel less than 25 miles inland.

But now you can zip around the world in hours, and you have to fill in and then surrender this stupid piece of cardboard, although they have made some effort to modernize it with ESTA. And by having a piece of cardboard called a "departure record" stamped with "multiple entry".

The US is such a large country though it's very hard to achieve consensus on anything at the federal level, hence endlessly stupid laws, e.g. the inability to get rid of the $1 bill.

Orangepants

My husband filed for a change of status to B2. It took about 4 months to come through and he was given 6 months but was in status as from the moment of filing the I-539. Best of luck.

Zen10

Thanks Steve - interesting about the dollar as well. Never occurred to me that everywhere else has dumped it.