I have been a full-time faculty member of a state university since August 2015. My current H1B will expire on July 31, 2018. Currently my employer is helping me renew H1B for the next 3 years. I request the HR of our university to go with premium processing for my H1B renewal.
My wife is Canadian citizen and holds a passport of Canada. As a result, she did not need to get an H4 visa to come to the US to join me 2 years ago. We drove to the US via port of Huron in August 2016, and she got her H4 stamp at the POE.
Now I am working on my H1B renewal for the next 3 years, and she needs to extend her H4 accordingly. She is preparing I-539 this time, while she did not fill this form (not any form actually) at all in August 2016.
My questions:
1. Can she by herself go back to Canada/China and come back to the US without me accompanying her once her I-539 is approved?
2. I believe she still does not need to get her H4 visa at the consulate, instead she can bring the approval of my new H1B (I-797 A or B?) and the approval of her I-539 to some POE to get a stamp. Do I understand the procedure correctly?
3. My employer is a state university, and as a result they are not allowed to cover the expenses incurred for my wife’s H4 extension. So my school should not (could not) file my wife’s I-539 together with my H1B renewal request, instead my wife should file this I-539 for herself. Do I understand it correctly?
Thank you very much for your time and help!