My H1 visa is expiring on Oct 30th 2011 and my company hasn’t filed the extension yet. I have to travel to India on Oct 12th 2011 for some medical emergency. I checked with my Company and they are planning to file it only after Oct 20th 2011 because of some constraints.

My question is whether my company can file my H1 extension when I am outside US? When I checked the same with my company they indicated that they could file my extension even when I am not in US through some exception process before Oct 30th (my H1 expiry date).

Could you please confirm if such exception process exists? I was always under the impression that you have the physically present in order to file for your H1 extension. Please help.