I received offer from a Company A which filed for my H1b and it got approved in June and by then I decided not to join Company A and asked them to withdraw. They sent a withdrawal notice to USCIS immediately after that and it has be received by them. I do have the mail chain from the company A's lawyers and the tracking id of the withdrawal letter sent. Its been two months and still USCIS hasnt sent or updated the case status(it still shows as received). I am on my intial OPT and started working for Company B. Now Oct 1st is approaching where my status will change automatically unless its already withdrawn for which I have no information. I have informed my school's DSO and Company A's immigration lawyers about this. Can anyone help me identify what my status will be after 1st? I called USCIS help desk and they told the receipt number is not associated with my account any more and dont know when the system will update it. Update: Got my withdrawal notice in Feb 2020(7 months) and there was no trouble going back to F-1. Filed a USCIS ombudsman request and they were able to get it revoked.
Wow was company A so bad that you let the H1B go?
Get a lawyer. Blind is not the place for this.
Lesson learned: A bird in hand is worth two in the bush
The day your lawyer sent withdrawal request should be earlier than October 1. USCIS takes lot of time to acknowledge that request and send you (to your attorney) confirmation. You have to forward it to your school DSO to fix the your data in the SEVIS Portal. I believe , as long as your withdrawal request was sent before Oct 1, you will be fine even if you are still waiting to get your SEVIS Data fix post Oct 1. I highly recommend to get these factually verified by a legal attorney and more importantly your previous company attorney should be able to guide you through this process.
Hey, thanks for info. So the withdrawal request was sent on July 3rd and I do have proof of that. My previous company attorney had confirmed that they did indeed sent a withdrawal request. I am in constant touch with them and my school DSO. I have informed my current companies attorney and am waiting for updates. I just wanted to know how Oct 1 will affect my status.
That’s only half job. You need ack receipt from USCIS. Oct1 - automatically your status will change to H1B. Because of which, as soon as you receive ack receipt for H1B withdrawal, send it to your school DSO to do SEVIS DATA FIX. Keep in touch with them. These processes takes weeks some times. Since you have withdrawal confirmation, you will not problem even after Oct 1. Don’t worry
OP do you mind giving an update on what happened with this. Would help many others!
OP! Thanks for the post and glad it got resolved. One question, so was your data fix requested in Feb 20 ? Also were you working before then I.e between oct 19 and feb 20
yup. it doesnt matter when your data fix happens but it’s important that your withdrawal request reaches before Oct 1. working depends on the employer
@yelp did you have to get an updated i-20 to continue working? I am in a similar state
You will not get an updated I20 till the sevis data fix happens. Talk to your DSO
My DSO says she can do something only after I get the acknowledgement notice. She also says I can't work until it's fixed. I am really confused as I have a new offer, I am worried I might lose the offer if I can't start work.
Consult an immigration attorney for your options. Ask your previous employer to raise a service request on the withdrawal. They only can get the withdrawal faster.
What’s a service request? How does employer raise it ?
This seems to be an unusual situation and might be grey area for many. only your attorneys can give you the best information.