I've been working in America for the past year, and in March 2020 my visa will expire. My boss has already stated that he wants to keep me on and that the company will renew my visa. My wife is also here but is a dependent on my visa. She doesn't need a visa to work, but if I lose my visa, she will lose hers too. To complicate matters, she also works at the same company I do.

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A unique stipulation of my visa renewal is that I need to get OUT of the USA and find a consulate. A lot of the people renewing this visa go to Canada or Mexico, but we were planning on lining this visa renewal up with a trip back to Australia in March.

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My question is: what's the best way to bring this up with the company regarding paying for the trip, or even if that's appropriate? They covered the legal fees before so I know they will do that again. But since I *have* to leave the country, should they be paying for the trip?

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Someone suggested calculating what it would cost to take a trip to Canada for a renewal (e.g. $1k) and asking them to put that forward as a stipend to the Australian trip. Even though my wife NEEDS to accompany me for the visa renewal, I would not ask for the company to expense her trip to, HOWEVER, now that she works for the same company, her position is also dependent on my visa being renewed.

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If anyone could provide some help or even just voice your opinion, that would be appreciated. (I've yet to go to my boss, the only thing we've talked about is that he would like to renew it).