2/6/2007

USCIS has officially abandoned previous arbitrary policy of restricting recapture of H-1B overseas time by "meaningful interruption" standard. Accordingly, at this time, H-1B professionals can recoup any time spent outside of the U.S. for whatever purposes, practically allowing them to stretch out the H-1B stay in the U.S. beyond six years. This new policy is particularly important for those who filed the labor certification application after their five (5) years of stay in the U.S. in a H-1B status.

Since the 7th year recapture rule requires that the labor certification application must be pending for 365 days before reaching the H-1B 6-year limit, unless the labor certification application is filed before reaching 5 years in H-1B, he/she is not eligible for the 7th-year extension. However, by making international trips, they will be able to stretch out the six-year limit beyond the calendar six years and may be able to meet the "365-day labor certification pending" requirement before reaching the H-1B 6-year limit.

Those who need the overseas time recapture must preserve good record to establish the exact period of absence from the United States. Usually people attempt to prove such absence through the entry-exit stamps in the passport, but the USCIS authorities warn that they may need additional evidence including boarding passes, hotel registrations or invoices, or photographs with digital date, etc, etc. They should also ensure that their absence from the U.S. will not violate the labor condition application and H-1B rules.