Please help define what constitutes unlawful presence. Does it start immediately after I-94 expiry or from the day a petition has been denied.
Background:
One of my friends H-1B transfer petition was denied and he subsequently travelled back to India came back on H-4. Transfer petition was filed before I-94 expiry. However, RFE and subsequent denial decision came after I-94 expired. His attorney advised him to state in his DS-160 application for H-4 to fill the fields under unlawful presence, âthe number of days he was in the country from I-94 expiry to the day he departed, which was 2-3 days of notice of denialâ.
Question - Was his attorney correct in his advice? Does unlawful presence days start retroactively? Shouldnât the unlawful presence be just for 3 days? Please advice.
My H-1B transfer petition filed in March 2018, at Vermont, is still pending post RFE reply in June28,2018. My 180 days is near and I donât want to accrue unlawful presence. Please help clarify.
Unlawful Presence - Date of denial to Date of leaving
As per my opinion, the unlawful presence should be from the DATE of DENIAL to the date of leaving USA.
Period of Authorized Stay - i94 to Date of Denial
The time from âi94 expiryâ to the date of denial is considered âPeriod of authorized stayâ.
Are you sure that there is nothing else to this case of your friend?
Attorneyâs usually do not make a mistake with respect to status violations and I think your friend may have missed some detail for his case.
Thanks for your clarification Anil. Really appreciate this platform and your prompt reply. We are all indebted for the help and guidance you offer.
I will share this information with my friend and find out if there is indeed any info he didnât share with me. I do have another question but not related to this topic and will post under a new topic. I would be delighted if you could share more insight.