I recently travelled to India in Dec-2019 with active new i797 ,CBP stamped i94 with admit date as per my old i94(valid until feb 2020) but not provided i94 date neither based on passport expiry date(June-2020) nor based on new i-94 (valid until september 2022) at the port of entry.And my visa expiry date was Feb-2020 as i did not attend visa interview with new i797 (valid until september 2022).
Actually,I traveled to get married and returned with my spouse(H4 Visa) and she got the correct i94 dates(valid until Sep 2022).
I have sent my passport for renewal on July -2nd and I have just understood that the most recent i-94 determines the valid stay and i’m in a panic situation now…
1)Can you please help me with the best solution to fix my i94 dates so that i will not lose my legal stay.
2)Although my wife was provided with i94 dates by CBP as per my new i94(valid until Sep-2022).Does my i94 expiry issue impact her visa(H4-EAD) as well?If yes,can you please help me with the way to fix it.
I was in a similar situation last year and consulted lawyers. The major point is that your latest I797 and attached I94 trumps the other I94 date based on “last action rule”. Some claim that the last action is based on your entry but the fact is last action is based on an official USCIS decision like your I797
Out of an abundance of caution I was advised to go outside of the country within 6 months. So in the 5th month after my I94 expired I went to Mexico and came back in. Before that I also went to the local CBP office to make the correction but that didn’t work for me. For others corrections have been made at the CBP office located in some major airports.
Thank you for reply @maverick41 !
In my situation,my newly approved i797 was not future dated as it was started prior to my India visit with validity dates(Oct 2019 to Sept 2022) and i travelled in Dec-2019 without stamping with new i797.The months of October 2019 to Feb-2020 was overlapping with old and and new i797 and at that time my employer mentioned that new i797 will trump the old i797 and i am not aware of last action rule
In you case,have you visited CBP office with attorney or alone?
Sure thing, glad to be of some help. In your case the CBP officer should have taken your I797 into consideration for stamping but maybe the passport expiry was the limiting factor.
My wife and I went to the CBP deferred Inspection unit by ourselves. No lawyers were present. Our I94 was valid when we visited the deferred Unit. We were told that if the future date I797 was within 15 days they would have given new I94 based on new I797. I returned to the US in early July 2019 but our I797 start date was in mid August. Please consult a lawyer if you do decide to visit a deferred unit. I honestly think you will be okay.
Thanks for reply.In my case,new i797 was not future dated, it was already active during travelling dates but i did not attend visa interview based on new 797, as it was optional since the previous visa stamping was not expired at that time.