I am in the US on H1b for one and half year now. My company didnt get me placed anywhere, so no pay stubs. I got married in the US and my husband is supporting me. I have been outside US several times and re entered didn’t have a problem at the port of entry. But recently I found out through a colleague of my husband that I should be out of status for not working on H1B. That’s when I started checking out immigration forums. It seems being out of status is going to be a problem if I have plans of living in US, my husband’s company is doing his GC processing. I thought I can be in US as long as I have a valid visa and a valid I94, both are still valid. Prior to coming on H1B, I have come to US on business visa (B1) sponsored by my previous employer and never over stayed. I still have B1 visa valid for another eight years.
Some questions I have are
1. I am planning to go back to my home country to apply for H4 visa and tell the consulate officer the truth that I wasn’t aware about being out of status. Will that be good enough, or should I inform the DOL before leaving US? I have read in some forums that informing DOL could get me back in status.
2. If I inform DOL, do I need to be in the US till the decision is made or can I leave US and apply for H4?
3. I have SSN and I had filed tax jointly with my husband and shown my income as NIL. Do I need to cancel my SSN before leaving US?
4. My employer never told me that I am out of status. Won’t it affect them if their employee is out of status?
5. I also found that paying the processing fee for H1B is illegal. I had paid for my H1B processing; they took it as a security deposit and agreed to pay back when I start working. If in case I have to inform DOL, do I need to mention this as well.
6. My employer never mentioned they will pay me when I am out of project. Is it mandatory they have to pay even when the employee is not on any project?
Thanks in advance. Please help.

