My wife is on TN (expiry date : Oct/2019) and my two kids are on her TN as TD visa holders (expiry date : Oct/2019).
I am on TN Visa (expiry date : Apr/2019) and my perm just got approved and am in the process of simultaneously activating my earlier inactivated H1B visa and filing the I-140 with the hope after few months down I will be with an approved I-140 and H1B.
My wife wants to stay on TN (kids on TD) as long as possible because the employer doesn't want to sponsor H1B and moving to H4 EAD doesn't look like a smart option now due to uncertainty surrounding H4-EAD's.
Watch the Video on this FAQ: TN applying for green card
Video Transcript:
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
I have read that in some cases of H1B as follows "They had H1 petition and H1B visa was stamped in 2012 but they never traveled to the US on that. And when a new employer applied for a cap-exempt H1B petition in 2017 they got it approved with change of status to H1 in May 2017...Whereas in my case I also didn't use this H1B visa and I even didn't travel to US i.e. My employer filed H1B in 2016 which got approved in Sep 2016 and after my resignation, they revoked H1B in Nov 2016 (which is > OCt, 1 2016), but I got a Denial. When contacted few attorneys they said I may get "Approvals" Or "Deny" in such cases, nowadays its more of details saying I am NOT cap exempt?
The first principle is if you are in the United States and you do not get a change of status you are not exempt from the quota. The second principle is if you are outside the USA and you don't get a visa stamp you are not exempt from the quota. Now in both these cases whether you join the job or not is irrelevant. So the third principle is whether you are joining the job or not is irrelevant.
If you are in your home country you must get a visa stamp if you don't, you are not exempt from the quota. If you are in the USA you must get a change of status otherwise you are not exempt from the quota. Hence principal number four is that if your approved H-1 is revoked before October 1st then you are still subject to the quota and the last principle is if your H-1 is revoked for error or for fraud or misrepresentation you are still subject to the quota.
I was very lucky to have Rajiv Khanna's team file my application because the person who worked with me was very patient, very detailed, very sensitive to my concerns. Moreover, she provided me with upto date information on my processing and made every effort to dispatch any material to the INS as soon as possible. I would happily recommend her to anyone.