My wife's H4 is expiring in 3 weeks and I am changing my employer

  1. My current H1 is valid until 6/26/22
  2. My wife’s H4 is valid until 3/25/22 from my previous employer
  3. I got my new H1B transfer case approved and waiting for hard copy of receipt notice to file my wife’s H4 through my new employer.
  4. My current employer is following up to file my H1B renewal and my wife’s H4 extension.

I am confused between 2 options.

  1. File the extension of H1 and H4 from my current employer. Also get the H4 extension from my new employer based on H1B transfer approval notice.
  2. Only get the H4 extension from my new employer based on H1B transfer approval notice.

My whole worry part is if hard copy of H1B transfer receipt/approval notice will reach close to H4 expiry(3/25/22) then it would cause risk(exit country).

Note: I also had H1b transfer and H4 extension through another employer 2 months ago where H1B transfer got approved but H4 is still in pending state.

Any reason why you didn’t apply H4 extension along with your H1B transfer? This is the most preferred approach when you have H4 dependents.

Why would you do this if your intention is to join the new employer ?

So which employer you are going to join finally? You need to use the I797 from the employer you will work for to apply for H4 extension of status.

@Kalpesh_Dalwadi
There were some confusion happened between employer and it’s attorney which caused not filing H4 along with H1. I questioned them a lot and now they are making excuses.

Finally my H1b transfer got approved and attorney received the hard copy and sent the case for H4 extension to USCIS along with H1B transfer approval notice.

Questions

  1. My fear is what if H4 case also got returned(just like my H1B) before or after my wife’s H4 expiry(March 25, 2022).
    Note:: During my H1B transfer my case got returned(no RFE) from USCIS 2 times with request to file Nebraska instead of Vermont. Not sure why?
  2. Would it be safe to join new employer, before I receive H4 receipt copy? Because if I wait for H4 transfer receipt copy then my current employer has to file extension for both of us. Whats the best recommendation?
  3. My bigger fear is let’s say I joined new employer before receiving the H4 receipt and H4 transfer case got rejected. Would my wife has to exit the country?