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I am working in the USA on an H-1B visa with my family. My visa got recently extended to 3 years and I got a valid I-797. I am planning to visit India to get a new visa in my passport. However, my family needs to stay here.

What happens to my family if my visa stamping is rejected in India? Do they immediately leave USA? Or can they stay?

phoog
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Babu
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  • Should your visa not be re-stamped, your family's H-4 would no longer be valid and they would have to leave the US immediately. – Giorgio Nov 08 '16 at 01:56
  • @Dorothy: How many days they have to leave US Immediately? – Babu Nov 08 '16 at 02:32
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    USCIS doesn't say how many days; immediately suggests that it would mean days, not weeks. Since your visa was extended, and you got the I-797, why are you worried about the re-stamping? It sounds as though everything is in order. – Giorgio Nov 08 '16 at 03:29
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    @Dorothy: "Should your visa not be re-stamped, your family's H-4 would no longer be valid" Do you have any source on that? – user102008 Nov 08 '16 at 19:17
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    @user102008 - H-4's are dependent visas and reference the H-1B as primary. There's no way an H-4 would remain valid if the H-1B it depends on is not renewed. – brhans Nov 08 '16 at 21:38
  • @brhans: But there is nothing about "renewing" anything here. The OP's H1b petition is valid for a long time. It's just the application for a visa. And the OP currently doesn't have a valid H1b visa. So, logically, why would being denied an H1b visa one time (the result being the OP still doesn't have a valid visa) make a difference? – user102008 Nov 08 '16 at 22:03
  • @user102008 - ok - maybe "renew" is the wrong word. But my understanding is that the consulate has the discretion as to whether or not they're actually going to issue the visa. So in the unlikely event that they don't, wouldn't that have a knock-on effect of invalidating the dependent H-4's? – brhans Nov 08 '16 at 22:46
  • @user102008 surely if the consulate comes upon some information that warrants refusal of the visa, the family cannot stay indefinitely. The principal will no longer be able to come to the US, and will therefore be unable to hold H-1B status. Having no principal, the family members would at the latest lose their status when their period of admission ends. The only question is whether they would lose it at some earlier point. – phoog Nov 09 '16 at 19:09
  • @phoog: Right, whether they would lose it at some earlier point is the gist of the OP's question. I mean, if the OP isn't able to successfully re-apply for a visa in a short time, the company will probably revoke his petition anyway, and I think revocation of the petition would surely cause the H4s to lose status. But Dorothy claimed that they would lose status immediately if the H1b visa is denied, which is what I am not sure about. – user102008 Nov 09 '16 at 20:06
  • @user102008 is there no provision for the petition to be revoked if the visa cannot be issued? (Or, perhaps better, if the applicant is found to be inadmissible? In all of this, I'm assuming something drastic and unlikely, such as new evidence of fraud coming to light, or of a criminal record, or something like that, which would make the applicant inadmissible.) – phoog Nov 09 '16 at 20:11

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Should your H-1B visa not be re-stamped, your family's H-4 visas would no longer be valid. Their visas are dependent on the primary visa holder's status, alone. Should you, the primary, no longer have a valid visa, they could not remain in the country. USCIS Nonimmigrant Services uses the word 'immediately' but does not further define it in terms of hours/days/weeks.

Giorgio
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  • I don't see anything in the document you linked to that supports your assertion. Can you elaborate? – phoog Aug 03 '17 at 00:26