I am looking for suggestion if anyone has recently travel and get back to state safely on H-1 b Visa. Before there used to be no issue traveling on H-1b visa but because of recent circumstance I heard there are lot of issues on traveling on H-1b visa. My passport is already expired and I didn't bother to renew my passport back in days only maintain status throughout. I have never been out of status. If I ask my employer they said it should not be issue as I am traveling on H-1b status but I also come across the news Border Patrol haven't allowed people from entering because of expired passport. If any of you have some experience please do share.
Also I am not on TPS as well. As I didn't apply at that time because of certain Circumstances. Only valid thing for my legalization is H1-b visa.
Appreciate your input and looking for some positive feedback as well.

traveling under h1 should be fine unless its a it job ( consultancy type)

If I understood correctly,you have valid h1b visa stamped in your expired passport and you do not have valid passport.

You will need valid passport of at least 6 months of active time left when you travel outside your country. So when you plan to come back, you will definitely need it.
If you have visa stamped in old passport that is not yet expired, that visa still remains valid even though you have new passport now .You need to carry them both.
You should be perfectly fine to travel.
If you need to get stamped , it can be risky if you are on w2 of small tech consulting.

@ thatAngryGuy

No, I don't have h1b stamp on my expired passport. I came as a F-1 and was in OPT for a while but currently I am on h-1b. My Passport was expired couple years back and I didn't felt renewing it at that time as I was on valid status throughout time. Recently I discover that If You don't have a valid due date on passport re-entry to USA has been deffrered. I am not quite sure its a port basis or Federally applied throughout. But I came to know students on F-1 visa was denied to re-enter because of expired passport beside having valid I-20. Its not a case from Nepal but One I encounter was from South American Country.

Back In days I mean in Previous Administration You can travel in and out of country on valid status. Expired Passport was not an issue but seems Like over here in Sajha nobody has travelled in And Out of Country after your Passport Has been Expired. Everybody is waiting for something Miracle to happen Over the years before this administration Start changing the rules and we all are caved in.

Anyways Thanks for the Input.

@Sahara Koirala.

I thought same until and unless I encounter recent story about a guy who has not been Allowed in although having Valid I-20. Thats what It scares me.
I have same feeling as yours and even if I talk to Employeer there should be no issue but as they also say they cannot guarantee on recent administration.

Thank you for input though. Appreciate your effort

How can you travel on an expired passport? It does not make sense. Leave the visa or I 20 part out, if you have an expired passport, you are not eligible for international travel. You cannot travel any where with expired passport. It's expired.you might have valid I 20 or even green card, but with expired passport, you will not be able to leave Nepal ko airport or ride any airplane. It should be valid first then comes other issues.

Can you even go back to Nepal on an expired passport? Is this question for real?

What I understood is you came here in F1 visa and applied for H1B while still being in the US, right? If I understood correctly, you don't have H1B visa yet. You only possess valid I-797 approval notice of H1B. It is clearly mentioned on it that this notice is not a visa. So, if you are intending to leave US and re-enter later, you need to get your valid passport stamped from US embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Now on expired passport issue, I don't know where you got your information from that one could travel and enter any foreign country with expired passport. It has nothing to do with this administration. You always need to have a valid passport irrespective of other documents. Entry with expired passport was never allowed, period.

@ Sunile

I think I somehow get everyone confused by saying expired passport but it should be referred as a expired VISA rather than Passport. My USA Visa has been Expired couple of years ago and while I am still in USA I change my status from F-1 to OPT to H-1b Visa. Yes I don't have H-1b Stamp on My passport but I have I-797 approval notice form.

So my question here is while you have expired VISA but valid passport. Can you travel and get back to country without having any issue.

To summarise and avoid confusion :
F-1 - OPT - H-1b (I-797 form)
F-1 visa expired 2 years ago
Valid Passport till 2025.
Status : never out of status (Maintain Status while in f-1 as well as h-1)

So with I-797 form can you travel and get back to state safely . I just have a doubt that my VISA is expired and I didn't went out of USA to Renew it at all.

Sorry about Confusion didn't mean to say expired passport but should have said expired VISA.

Not a legal advice, but see if this helps:

To go to Nepal, all you need is a valid passport (which you have).

To come back, you need a valid passport (which you have) and an H1B visa stamp on your passport (which you don't have). So you basically need to apply for H1B visa in Kathmandu before you can come back.

You don't become out of status simply because your visa stamped on your passport long ago has expired, as long as you switched to another visa. If you went from F1 to OPT to H1B without going out of status in between, you should be fine. Many people change status here without going out of the country, which basically means -- like you -- they don't necessarily have a stamped visa for their current visa type. What matters is whether you maintained your status. For example, you dropped out of school and stayed that way for a long time when you were on a F1 visa, then you've lost your status even if you have F1 visa valid for a loooooong time.

Now about risk of not getting a visa in Kathmandu, there is certainly an element of randomness and very often people are kept on what's called Admin Processing (which, I am told, can take up to 2 months before the visa is approved). But I don't know anyone with a valid I-797 and other documents showing proof of employment (get letter from your employer, take a few recent pay stubs, etc.) whose visa has been rejected. If you end up being the rare unlucky one...well...it's likely beyond your direct control anyway.

Btw, also don't forget that you need an approval from the labor ministry (Sram Bibhag in Soaltee Mod) to come back to work in the US. I have been told that sometimes people get away without it, but I have been asked for the stamp everytime at TIA.

Ok, now it makes sense.
You will not have any issues for not maintaining status because your status was always valid.
However, 797 approval gives you status only, not travel authorization. For that, you need valid visa ( not expired visa ) in your passport. The only exception would be advanced parole. You might have got wrong information from somewhere. If you were on F1 and your f1 visa on your passport had expired, you would not be allowed to enter just based on valid i20. You needed to renew the visa based on your i-20 , that is what I did when I was student.
So for your case, if you travel outside this country , to re-enter, you need to get h1b stamping .

@ YRA

Thank you YRA for your helpful suggestion.So far out of this post my understanding is I can Travel on I-797 with Expired Visa back to Nepal but to re-enter To USA I have to go to Embassy Of USA in Nepal. Pay the fee and get a date and then Get H-1b stamp on my passport and on then only I can Legally enter USA.

YRA do you know how long will it take to get a date .Is turn around time frame is within couple of weeks or does it might take up to month. I am planning to take total 20 days vacation from my job so Want to know if it is enough time to take care of it.

Once again Thank you for input. Because the people I talk had different opinion over here and nobody was sure what was legal way. As nobody has left the country once they get in and they are just here in status.

@ thatAngryguy

Thank you for your input. Appreciated it. So i got the point. I need to apply in Embassy of USA to get my h-1b stamp with I-797 form and some pay stub as proof of document.

Does anybody in SAJHA have gone through this process. Would appreciate if you could share your part of story as we all who are still in doubt could benefit from it.

Also you never know when you have to leave the country and come back because of family situation. So I believe it will be helpful for those people as well.

Thank You Everyone for sharing their piece of mind. Hope People like me will benefit from this post.

You can actually make an appointment online. I suggest you to check out the waiting time and make an appointment before you travel to be in safe site. The link to fill the form and to gather all the details you need for visa stamping in nepal is
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/np/np-niv-appointmentschedule.asp . Just navigate through and you should be able to gather all the details.
For the wait time and availability of schedule, it seems like you have to register. Give it a shot. For India , it was around 70 days few months back , so better to be safe than sorry right.
direct link for avaialblity /waiting seems to be this one,
https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/?language=English&country=Nepal