Travelling while the extension is in progress

Hi,

I have peculiar situation, My H1B got expired on September 30 2015, I have raised for my extension on 7th August 2015, so far it is not approved.

Can I travel to my home country on current expired VISA, will it cause any problem to my H1B extension which is under process, I will plan return only upon the approval of my extension.

Many thanks,

Vijay

If you leave, your 797 will continue to be processed and get approved with consular processing. As long as you wait to return until your 797 is approved, you should be fine.

Many thanks Saurabh.
Sorry to bother you, I even asked my employer in parallel, just got response, he told me that there is a risk in it, as the I-94 gets changed if I travel outside, application might get rejected, if it happens so need to raise again through Cap Exempt process. So he was telling me to travel with taking risk.

Do you think that will be issue?

Many many thanks.

Did the employer tell this from his knowledge or did he consult an attorney? Because what he said is wrong.

Your extension consists of 2 parts - 797 extension and I-94 extension. The former will continue to be processed even after you leave US, while the latter will be abandoned. This will cause 797 to be approved w/ consular processing rather than EoS (extension of status).

The risk is that you cannot return to US on current expired petition and need to get the extension approval in hand. If you have to go for stamping, then you need extension approval in hand for that as well.