There is a reason that an attorney does not recommend to travel abroad while the petition is in process. As long as you have a valid passport (>6 mo) and visa, it should be OK to re-enter, but you should be very careful about your I-94. If your extention is approved after you re-enter, it should be OK. If your extension is approved but the immegration officer at the port does not know that yet (there can be such time window according to my lawyer), your most recently issued I-94 shall be based on your old visa. You should consult with your lawyer immediately if this is the case. It is very much a corner case but can happen.
무심님 질문 있는데요,,
If there happend to be this time window when I come back from Korea, why is it problem? Does it mean that my most recently issued I-94 (with my previous employer) will not be valid any more?
Sorry to bother you, but I would really appreciate your help.
Here is an example (hypothetical)
– you enter the States at 7/10/2004
– your extention is approved at 7/9/2004, but not known to the officer at the port. Your extension is valid until 7/8/2007, while your old visa is going to be expired by 8/30/2004
– Now the officer at the port likely issues the I-94 that ia valid through 8/30/2004, and this I-94 is issued AFTER the I-94 attached to your extension approval.
– Now, you are in a situation that you have to leave before 8/30/2004, at which the I-94 is to be expired. Your I-94 attached to the status extention approval is no longer valid.
= Per I-94, the one you get at the port in this case is MORE RECENT than the one comes with the extension approval.
– It seems like there is a way to extend (practically get the new) I-94 while you are in the state as my company’s attorney told me that if such case would happen he had to know immediately. (If there is no way to handle that, I think he should say so, but I can be sure as I didn’t ask)
