Legal Question in Immigration Law in New York

Re: Travel Abroad - with H1 Approval

If I understood you correctly, your employer obtained an approval of an I-129 petition on your behalf. If that is correct, and you need to travel before commencing employment (October 1 is the earliest date you are entited to start work), you will need to obtain a visa stamp at the U.S. consulate in your home country. Keep in mind that in some locations consular appointments must be made months in advance. In some limited circumstances you may be able to process your visa at a third country consulate but you have to be sure that the selected post would accept your application.

You will need to take with you to your home country the original approval notice, employment offer letter, LCA, and a few other things to document your request for an H-1b visa overseas. Contact your employer's immigration counsel if you are not represented yourself for these documents.

A few other things to remember. If your employer's petition has not been approved yet and later gets denied, and you do not have any other immigration status in the U.S., you may not be able to return. If you applied for a change of status to H-1b, you are not allowed to travel outside the U.S. without abandoning your request for change of status.

The above reply is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied on as such. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this posting.