I am working on H-1B and my status is expiring in a couple of weeks.  My current employer A filed my H-1B extension but an RFE has been issued on the extension petition.  My employer is going to respond to the RFE within a week.  Now I have an offer from another company B who is ready to file my H-1B tranfer under premium processing.  I have the following questions:

1.  Can I apply for an H-1B transfer when my extenion is pending and an RFE is issued on the extension petition?

A:  Yes, you can.  As long as your I-94 card remains valid.

2.  If company B files for my H-1B transfer and if they do not get the receipt of transfer before my status expires, will there be any problem in transfer or extension?

A:  As long as the application is received by the USCIS before your I-94 expires, you should be fine.  You do not have to obtain the receipt before I-94 expires.  Your notice of action will reflect the date the USCIS has received your application and as long as that date is before the expiration date on your I-94 card, you will be fine.

The world’s population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years — and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils.

Even the most worldly and well-traveled among us will have their perspectives shifted by Hans Rosling. A professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, his current work focuses on dispelling common myths about the so-called developing world, which (he points out) is no longer worlds away from the West. In fact, most of the Third World is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the west did.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We were recently consulted by an L-1 client who discovered a year after his entry that his I-94 card was endorsed to show that his entry was made in L-2 status.  At the time of entry, he was travelling with his wife and the CBP officer at the Port of Entry inadvertently marked his I-94 card reflecting his status as L-2 and his wife as L-1. 

The client and his wife have been advised to go to deferred inspections in order to get this corrected because they will be unable to change/extend their status without first getting their I-94 cards modified. 

It is therefore, critical that individuals check their I-94 card before leaving the airport so that if any errors are noted they can take immediate action to get it corrected.  The expiration date and the status symbol should match their underlying approval notice.

When individuals enter the US in any nonimmigrant status (B-1/B-2, H-1B, F-1/F-2, etc.), they are issued an I-94 card with an expiration date.  At the time of departure, it is important to surrender the I-94 card(s) so that the USCIS record will reflect that these individuals left the country before the expiration date on their I-94 cards.  Failure to do so may result in problems when trying to enter the US in the future.  We are often confronted with situations where clients forget to surrender the I-94 card.  If you failed to turn in your I-94 Departure Record, please send it, along with any documentation that proves you left the United States to:

DHS – CBP SBU

1084 South Laurel Road

London, KY 40744

 Do not mail your Form I-94 Departure Record or supporting information to any U.S. Consulate or Embassy, to any other CBP Office in the United States, or to any address other than the one above. Only at this location can any necessary corrections to CBP records be made to prevent inconvenience in the future. To validate departure, CBP will consider a variety of information, including but not limited to:

• Original boarding passes used to depart another country;
• Photocopies of entry or departure stamps in the passport indicating entry to another country after departure from the United States ; and
• Photocopies of other supporting evidence, such as:
• Dated pay slips or vouchers from employer to indicate employment in another country after the departure from the United States,
• Dated bank records showing transactions,
• School records showing attendance at a school outside the United States, and
• Dated credit card receipts to indicate presence in another country after leaving the United States.

Please include an explanation letter in English.  Mail legible copies or original materials where possible. If sending originals, please retain a copy.

 Keep a copy of what you send to DHS-CBP and carry it for the next time entry is made into the United States in case the CBP Officer has any questions about eligibility to enter. Carrying those materials will also allow the record to be corrected at the time of entry if, for some reason, the London, Kentucky office has not yet done so.

NRIs based in USA must file Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) report on or before June 30 regardless of whether you file your tax return or not. FBAR is neither a tax return NOR part of the tax return. Read on to know more…

Who must file FBAR

If you own or have authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, unit trust, or other types of financial accounts, you may be required to report the account yearly to the Internal Revenue Service. Under the Bank Secrecy Act, each United States person must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), if

1. The person has a financial interest in, or signature authority (or other authority that is comparable to signature authority) over one or more accounts in a foreign country and
2. The aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.

FBAR reporting for NRIs The FBAR is required because foreign financial institutions may not be subject to the same reporting requirements as domestic financial institutions. The FBAR is a tool to help the United States government identify persons who may be using foreign financial accounts to circumvent United States law. Investigators use FBARs to help identify or trace funds used for illicit purposes or to identify unreported income maintained or generated abroad.

Information required

Basic information: Personal information like Name, address, marital status, Passport, Visa details, SSN, PAN etc

Foreign Bank/Financial institution detail: Name and address of your foreign bank/institution, Account no., type of account, Joint owner details, etc

Note:

1. “Financial Account” includes the following accounts which are maintained in a country outside of United States (e.g. India, Canada, Pakistan, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, etc.):

* Bank Accounts such as savings accounts, checking accounts, and time deposits.
* Securities Accounts such as mutual funds, brokerage accounts, and securities derivatives or other financial instruments accounts.
* Accounts where the assets are held in a commingled fund that is a mutual fund. See Notice 2010-23
* Any other account(s) maintained in a foreign financial institution or with a person doing business as a financial institution.

2. To know the “Highest Value” in your account, you may review your periodical bank/fund statements or alternatively call up the Bank/Stock Authorities.

Reporting and Filing Information

A person who holds a foreign financial account may have a reporting obligation even though the account produces no taxable income. Checking the appropriate block on FBAR-related federal income tax return questions (found on Form 1040 of Schedule B, the “Other Information” section of Form 1041, Schedule B of Form 1065, and Schedule N of Form 1120) and filing Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, satisfies the account holder’s reporting obligation.

The FBAR is not to be filed with the filer’s Federal income tax return. The granting, by the IRS, of an extension to file Federal income tax returns does not extend the due date for filing an FBAR. You may not request an extension for filing the FBAR. The FBAR must be received by the IRS on or before June 30 of the following year. File by mailing the FBAR to:

U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 32621
Detroit, MI 48232-0621.

If an express delivery service is used, file by mailing to:

IRS Enterprise Computing Centre
ATTN: CTR Operations Mailroom, 4th Floor
985 Michigan Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226

Account holders who do not comply with the FBAR reporting requirements may be subject to civil penalties, criminal penalties, or both.

Exceptions to the Reporting Requirement

Exceptions to the reporting requirement can be found in the FBAR Instructions. These exceptions include:

1. Accounts in U.S. military banking facilities operated by a United States financial institution to serve U.S. Government installations abroad are not considered to be accounts in a foreign country for purposes of the reporting requirement.
2. An officer or employee of a bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of Thrift Supervision, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, is not required to report having signature or other authority over a foreign account if the officer or employee has no personal interest in the account.
3. An officer or employee of a domestic corporation whose equity securities are listed on a national securities exchange or which has assets exceeding $10 million and 500 or more shareholders of record, is not required to report having signature or other authority over a foreign account if the person has no personal financial interest in the account, and the officer or employee has been advised in writing by the chief financial officer of the corporation that the corporation has filed a current report that includes the foreign account.

Word of Caution – Penalties!

The following chart highlights the civil and criminal penalties that may be asserted for not complying with the FBAR reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

Source: www.investmentyogi.com