Immigration Site

Hello All,

We are about to file a green card petition for my husband I married in March. He was on F1 to H1B to F1 and H1B and now is either illegal or out of status.

He maintained legal H1B status until November of 2008. On November 25th he traveled to his home country and returned on December 29th of the same year. He had been on vacation.

He returned on his H1B visa to find that he had been laid off from his job [sneaky I know] because he did not show enough commitment to the firm by taking the vacation four months into his employment. His employers assured him they had not notified USCIS of his termination so it was okay for him to find another position and transfer his H1B.

Apparently the partner in the firm who gave him that information, had not checked with HR. HR had fired of a letter to USCIS indicating he was terminated November 21st 08. Upon his applying to USCIS jn March to transfer his H1B, he was given an RFE to prove that he had been in status during the period. Because he was out of status, he amended his petition to consular processing. It was approved on June 25 2009 with an expiration date of 07/01/2010. Please note that the expiry date on his I-94 was 04/30/2010. He however did not not go back because he said he feared the consular officer might decide not to forgive his "out of status" period and in any case he planned to return to his country for good after working a few months. He continued working until his accident and then I met him.

He got involved in an almost fatal motorcycle crash and was laid up for nine months which precluded him leaving and thats how we met. I want him to stay. Now we are about to file the green card petition ourselves since I am a USC.

My question more importantly is he prevented him from adjusting status?

We believe he does not have an automatic ban and some confirmation or otherwise would be helpful. Will he be needing a waiver?

Thanks to all.

You need a good lawyer to figure that one out.

He was inspected and admitted although it is unclear of exactly when each even happened.

Did he know he was fired when he re-entered on the H1-B?

Did they fire him afterwards and exactly when did they HR person notify USCIS of termination?

He might be considered as having made a lawful entry for adjustment as an IR of a USC but have gone out of status enough to prevent renewing/transferring/extending an H1-B inside the U.S.

Timing of events is the issue that will be most influential in the outcome.

Gather that info and see a competent lawyer.

Thanks for your response. Perhaps I was not clear enough. The timeline is he left the US on the 25th of November 2008, re entered on 29th December 2008. He filed for transfer around January 20th 2009 and was issued the RFE on March 24 2009. I hope this helps in making a determination. At the time he re entered we had not even met and thus were not married. I met him in 2010 during his hospitalization.

I honestly from my reading believe he was out of status immediately he arrived on December 2009 and started accumulating illegal presence on April 30 2010. Some more opinions would be appreciated. I do understand that people on here are not lawyers but I know there are people on here with a pretty good understanding of the immigration process.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for your response. Perhaps I was not clear enough. The timeline is he left the US on the 27th of November 2008, re entered on 29th December 2008. He filed for transfer around January 20th 2009 and was issued the RFE on March 24 2009. I hope this helps in making a determination. At the time he re entered we had not even met and thus were not married. I met him in 2010 during his hospitalization.

I honestly from my reading believe he was out of status immediately he arrived on December 2009 and started accumulating illegal presence on April 30 2010. Some more opinions would be appreciated. I do understand that people on here are not lawyers but I know there are people on here with a pretty good understanding of the immigration process.

Thanks in advance. You missed the most important part.

WHEN did he learn that he had lost the job?

IF before he entered on the H1-B then he committed intentional immigration fraud.

IF after he entered, then he did not commit intentional immigration fraud.

It makes the world of difference.