AOS Pending, Should H-1 be Renewed
Should H-1 be renewed while the AOS is pending?
Bottomline - I think H-1 should be renewed.
A little more info: A few months ago, I used to feel strongly that AOS applicants should keep their H-1 active for several reasons. Two of these are:
One, EAD issuance was erratic and CIS had discontinued issuance of interim EAD's (that is, if in 90 days your EAD is not issued, you could walk with a infopass appointment to your local CIS office and get an EAD). Thus, EAD's were unreliable and given for only a year. You could have interruptions in your work.
I received my permanent resident stamp in my passport on June 18, 2004, ending these significant and challenging 5 years of my life. I would like to thank to Rajiv S. Khanna and his staff for their outstanding work to help me in this important process.
I would like to mention that due to the immense I-485 backlog I had to have my EAD and AP renewed each 2 times. The Law offices didn't charge me for the unexpected extra amount of work.
I would like to show my special thanks to Leila Lehman, who was always there to answer instantly to all my questions and worries during the last 27 months of I-485 processing.
Also, I would like to thank to the entire staff especially to Diane Lombardo, Homa Naderi, Lakshmi Kompella, Mathew Chacko, Pooja Sama, Savita Krishnamurthy, Shivane Sharma, Subha Chennunhotta, Suman Bhasin and Vijay Durgam.
I have a couple of friends who went through the permanent residency adjustment of status process helped by the team from the Law Office of Rhajiv S. Khanna, and I witnessed their smooth processing.
I will always think about Mr. Khanna's team as great professionals and great people who helped me with, perhaps, my most important step in my life.