I travelled to India last week in an emergency and I am in India now, I have changed my employer a few months back and I am working for him although my transfer is still in process, my new employer responded to an RFE and it is pending for approval.
However, I have my H1B Visa stamped with my old employer and it is valid till 2018, so now can I travel back to US with my old employer Visa and with the receipt notice of my new employer ( as my new I797 is not approved yet and the transfer is still in process)? I am planning to travel in march last week so please suggest me. Also, my previous employer has already revoked his petition against which I have the valid Visa.
You currently don’t have any active petition, correct? The previous one has been revoked and the new one is still pending.
My suggestion would be to wait for new petition’s approval and then travel to US. You can use old visa stamp to enter (remember to explicitly tell PoE officer about the new approved petition or they would consider old revoked petition by default).
Yes, I do not have an active petition right now. It’s still pending and is not filed in premium. I am here in India in an emergency for a few weeks and my client is following up for my return so when I checked with my attorney she replied saying I can travel on H1 receipt even if the old employer petition has been revoked provided the old employer H1 visa is not expired so thought to check with you as well.
Your suggestions were always helping him till now so I would always prefer your advice though so wanted your suggestion as my attorney says I can travel and moreover my client is wants me right back. So little confused on whether to take the risk of travel or not so just checking with you.
Attorneys are the legal expert so I would defer to their guidance.
Can you ask your attorney this. If you enter US using transfer receipt, then what would be the I-94 expiration date issued to you? As the petition is still pending, CBP doesn’t know whether it will be approved or not, and even if approved then what would be the expiration date.
Did you travel safe with the H1B transfer receipt notice and H1 stamping from previous employer??
Please reply asap as i need to travel after two days.
Hi Geetika,
I have the similar situation as Bobb (Initiator of this forum). Good to know your travel situation went well. But can you please confirm one more time that, you were able to travel and reenter into USA on H1B Visa stamp of revoked petition of your old employer?
With given above situation, I explained this to CBP officer and took his opinion. (I met CBO officer in I-94 correction office in near by Intl. airport)
He suggested, I can still travel on my previous employer’s stamped visa. In port of entry counter, they have very limited access to the USCIS records. So even if we tell them you are still work for old employer, they cannot verify there. (They can verify if you act suspicious).
I followed his suggestion and travelled. At the port of entry CBP officer asked me the question, which employer I work for and what I do for them. I told them my previous employer’s name and duties. I entered into the US with no problem.
Bobb, I have an questions like my previous employer stamping I have until sep 3 2018, new employer i797 has valid until Oct 31 2018, I am planning to travel Mar 17 2018 and returning back on April 7th is it fine for my travel.
Can you tell whether in Port of entry do i need to tell i am working with previous employer and client or Do i need to tell abt new employer with whom still petition is in process?.