H-1B Extension Blunder: Status Lost Due to Lawyer

An H-1B’s life has been put on hold as he went out of status all thanks to a lawyer’s careless error.

Taking to social media, the immigrant worker shared that his H1B expired on January 25, 2025, but the company attorney didn’t act in time. It wasn’t until March that they realized the blunder and told him to stop working.

Further explaining his ordeal the H-1B wrote, “They filed a Nunc Pro Tunc (NPT) H1B extension with an (Labor Condition Application) LCA dated March 11, 2025, requesting that the petition be backdated to Jan 25 to maintain continuity of status.”

However, USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) citing a mismatch between the LCA start date and petition start date.

Shortly after that, the petition was denied without any reason. Meanwhile, his I-140 (for a green card) is in process as it was filed before the H1B expired.

While the employee is clueless about what to do next, netizens offered some clarity. People claim that NPT is discretionary and USCIS doesn’t need any reason to reject it.

The burden lies on the applicant to prove that missing the deadline was a genuine error and not a willful violation of his status. His I-140, which is still in process, doesn’t help restore or maintain status either.

Now the only viable option he has is to leave the country and apply for consular processing.

It seems H-1B workers can’t even rely on their attorneys to do the job they are hired for. It is best to keep tabs, track your own visa timelines, and remind your company to file for an extension.