My wife came to the US in Dec 2007 on H4 which is valid till Jun 2012. Got her status changed to F1 in 2011 but never went out of country to get F1 Visa Stamped.She is on OPT right now, which is valid till Jun 2012. We had to travel to India while on OPT and she went for visa stamping to get F1 visa stamped with valid EAD and Job offer. Her visa application was rejected. Visa officer said her H4 visa is still valid and so she should travel on H4 instead F1.
Questions:
1.Can she travel back to the US based on H4 visa validity without having done anything else? Or does she need to apply for change of status back to H4? Can change of status be done while we are in India and how much time it will take? What is the process of applying the change of status?