QUESTION:
My husband is on a H1B; myself and my son on H4. I contacted USCIB today to
get more info. on changing our visa status to a B2 (while we get our stuff
together) and was told that I had to complete a form I539 for EACH of us to
the tune of $195 each. I download the form from their website and H4 can
use the form (and for more than one person on the form) but an H1B needs to
have his employer file an I-129.
It appears that this cannot be done by phone or that being Canadian doesnt'
help at all, according to the person I spoke to today.
Must it really be this expensive and complicated to change our visa status?
Must our passports be valid for the change (my son's is about to expire)?
The form recommends 45 days prior to the anticpated change (which would be
impossible for those H1B with no warning when laid off).
Any advice would be appreciated.
===========================================
david ingram replies:
The other solution would be to leave the country and return as visitors
which some people do.
The practical fact is that when you quit a job in the US which you have
because of a TN, L1, H1 or close down a business operated under an E2 visa,
you no longer have any rights to be in the USA.
It is necessary to get official status with a B2 as you have found out.
And as you have also pointed out, when someone is fired on a Friday night,
they are supposed to be gone the next day.
Now that I have made that statement, I can truthfully say that I have never
heard of someone having a problem when they are fired and don't get out of
town right away.
I have heard of problems when they are still there a couple of months later.
If you are going to be there a bit, get the proper change through the
system. The last thing anyone needs is a problem with Homeland Security or
the USCIS and if you do have a problem, you can even ed up banned from the
US for three, five or even ten years.
I think that the ones who are still there and have a problem have been
reported by the ex employer. It seems that everyone I have heard of was
suing their ex employer for wrongful dismissal.
Look at it as a further unanticipated cost of doing business.
I am going to use it for the newsletter because it makes a point.
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