I am trying to take an appointment for my wife to renew her H-4 visa since the dates are available right now. She came here on H4, switched in between to F-1 (change of status) but did not leave US, then got the new approval for change of status to H4 (after we filed for green card) and wants to get it stamped now. There is a bit of confusion on the DS-156 form that I have to fill out.
If someone came to the US on a J1 visa with a residency requirement of two years and that person returns back to the home country and then would like to return to the US on an F1 visa to continue a master's degree, can a visa be issued before the residency requirement is completed and does the new F1 visa if given, get rid of the J1 residency requirement?
The two-year home residency requirement does not prohibit issuance of F-1 visa. That can be tried any time, even before the HRR is completed. Ultimately, F-1 visas are discretionary. But there is no law that prohibits their issuance in these circumstances.
Issuance of an F-1 does NOT waive the HRR. You will stay subject to it.
Here is another set of questions that may be of interest to you folks.
Facts from one of our clients
I have applied for 485 as the primary applicant and my wife is the secondary applicant. Right now both of us are on H1 visa. We had applied for EAD and AP and intend to apply for renewal soon as we near 120 days.
I am on my 7th year of H1 and my wife is on 2nd year of H1 and 3 year of (H1 and H4 combine). Her current H1 expires on April 2010.
I intend to remain on H1 itself and have no intentions of using my EAD.
I normally do not answer questions about filling out forms. But in this case, one of our community members has raised issues that I think are generic enough to be generally applicable. I am posting this for all of you who run into a similar situation. Regards to all. Rajiv.
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Here is another question from one of our clients posted in our extranet forclients.com.
Qo. My Priority date became current as per August bulletin.
I and my wife are applied for I-485 on July 2007 (PF is done and got EAD and AP docs). At that time my son was in India and i could not apply for him.
Right now i am working on his I-485 paperwork and targeting to send his application to INS/Nebraska on August first itself (through your Law firm).
"Having these three organizations to intervene in the case is a good development for students,” says Rajiv Khanna, Managing Attorney at Immigration.com.
At present I am working in OPT ( expires in June 2020). I have an unused stamped H1B visa which I got in August’ 2013 and my visa stamped in my passport on August,2014. However I never traveled/ worked with this H1B visa and expired in October’2016 without using or entry. I came to USA in January’2016 in F1 Visa. My question is can I use this unused stamped visa for cap exempt as transfer of employer from F1 visa to H1B visa now? or do I need to apply in Master’s cap next year.
In your case if we counted from six years from August 2013 when your H-1B was approved, you are then okay or cap exempt till August 2019. But again, the policy has been that they count the six years from the date your H-1B expired which is 2014 not 2013. Policies can change overnight so I think you can apply for an H-1B exemption as an H-1B exempt worker.