Looking for advice re: staying in the USA

Hello,

I am looking for a bit of advice about staying in the USA, and would appreciate any input that you might be able to provide!

I am looking to spend some time in the USA later this year and early next year. I have a UK passport.

The initial time scale for this had initially been planned to be just under 3 months, which would have fitted in well with the tourist visa available. I do not plan to work during my stay there, and do not have intentions to live there permanently.

However, due to changes in plans, I would now be looking to stay for just over 4 months. I had wondered what would be the best way of doing this?

I had wondered about simply leaving the country after 90 days, and then returning for the extra 4-5 weeks.

Would that be feasible? What would be the nearest country to go to from the USA that would classify as having left the country (I would be in New York)?

Would that cause problems in terms of returning to the USA? I was wondering is immigration might ask questions, if I'd been in the country for 90 days already and then returning just a few days later.

Perhaps there could be a minimum period of being in another country before returning?

Any thoughts that you might have on this would be greatly appreciated.

Seems applying for a tourist visa from the U.S embassy can help if you want to stay for even 6 months

archigabe wrote:Seems applying for a tourist visa from the U.S embassy can help if you want to stay for even 6 months

First question the Embassy will ask is why he wants to stay for 6 months - usually a difficult conversation from that point onwards.

JAJ wrote:

archigabe wrote:Seems applying for a tourist visa from the U.S embassy can help if you want to stay for even 6 months

First question the Embassy will ask is why he wants to stay for 6 months - usually a difficult conversation from that point onwards.

Just tell them you want to tour the us by car. And show an itinerary with approx timings

Although you yourself don't explain what you will be doing for the 4 months which is annoying

I had a smilar situation to you recently and applied for a b1 tourist visa. This gives you six months. Just create an itinerary to take to the embassy to show why you would like to be in the states for 6 months. The visa is valid for ten years so any time you go in the future you will enter on this not the visa waiver.

The other thing they may ask you, is how you will be funding your trip, this is probably the more important question as the Immigration official needs to feel satisfied that you are not going to try and gain employment whilst in the US.

[quote="gilgr097"]I had a smilar situation to you recently and applied for a b1 tourist visa. This gives you six months. Just create an itinerary to take to the embassy to show why you would like to be in the states for 6 months. The visa is valid for ten years so any time you go in the future you will enter on this not the visa waiver.

The other thing they may ask you, is how you will be funding your trip, this is probably the more important question as the Immigration official needs to feel satisfied that you are not going to try and gain employment whilst in the US.[/quote]

Thankyou for this and the other responses; very much appreciated!

I will simply be staying in New York on an extended vacation period, simply to enjoy living in the city (I have a few very good friends there). There will be no intention to work, and funds will not be an issue. There could be some travel involved, so with that in mind it sounds as if it might be a good idea to try to put together some sort of itinerary and present it to the US embassy. A cross country drive perhaps (which I have done before)? It is unlikely to happen this time, but could at least quell the suspicions of the authorities.

Alternatively, I guess that I could just leave the USA and come back again, but am unsure about the grace period best taken before coming back to reduce the likelihood of any immigation people getting suspicious and asking questions. Maybe a month or something? It won't be as if I have anything to hide, but as has rightly been pointed out, I am aware that I may need to strengthen my case a little, as the immigration people can indeed become suspicious about these things.

petalp wrote:Would that cause problems in terms of returning to the USA? I was wondering is immigration might ask questions, if I'd been in the country for 90 days already and then returning just a few days later.

Perhaps there could be a minimum period of being in another country before returning?

The usual rule of thumb is that you should spend as much time outside the US as you stayed there. You might be lucky and they might admit you, or they might refuse entry. It's completely up to the immigration officer. If you are refused entry, you will never be able to use the visa waiver program again. The chances of getting a tourist visa if you are eligible for the VWP are generally silm.

[quote="Marco 72"]The usual rule of thumb is that you should spend as much time outside the US as you stayed there. You might be lucky and they might admit you, or they might refuse entry. It's completely up to the immigration officer. If you are refused entry, you will never be able to use the visa waiver program again. The chances of getting a tourist visa if you are eligible for the VWP are generally silm.[/quote]

Hello Marco,

Thanks for your post, much appreciated. That certainly makes a great deal of sense, and will certainly help me in terms of formulating plans on this front.