Duration of stay and buying airline ticket

[Boiler 43,429]

Read it?, I contributed to it.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

I suggest that she book a trip for 10-14 days. It's a reasonable amount of time. Purchase trip insurance if you believe in a possibility of change.

[Shauneg 762]

Is she trying to stay for a few weeks or 6 months? One is an obviously of course it's fine, the other is not something you should do. You're right you don't know, but generally how long does one come do whatever it is she is putting on her visa form?...Vacation 2-3 weeks......

[Shauneg 762]

Read it?, I contributed to it.

Reminds me of a time when an OP told me to go back and read the original comments before chiming in...he didn't even realize I was the first to respond and had conversated back and forth with him for two days on the subject. Needless to say, thread was locked shortly after...lol.

[Boiler 43,429]

I suggest that she book a trip for 10-14 days. It's a reasonable amount of time. Purchase trip insurance if you believe in a possibility of change.

You need to how long you are going to purchase travel insurance, and the cancellation and curtailment cover will not cover change of mind etc.

[Qilipu 0]

I suggest some of you read this - http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/547508-uncalled-for-comments/

To rephrase the question. If we do not know beforehand how long CBP will allow Soumanti to stay, then how can

she book a return flight prior to her trip not knowing the return date?? Or will CBP grant the stay duration based

on the return date on the ticket??

In principle, the CBP officer interviews the arriving alien, asking her about the purpose of the visit and the intended date of departure (sometimes asking to see the ticket), and determines the authorized stay period as he deems appropriate. In practice, if an alien arriving as a "visitor for pleasure" has a visitor visa (B-2, or B-1/2) or is a Canadian citizen (visa not required), she is almost always granted admission for 180 days (or maybe it is 6 months). If the alien arrives on a visa waiver (available to citizens of many EU countries, etc), admission is granted for 90 days. So the standard admission perdiod is designed to accommodate the needs of the overwhelming majority of visitors for pleasure.

The CBP inspector may, of course, authorize a shorter admission period than the standard 6 months, but that's fairly uncommon, and usually happens because the inspector feels that although the alien is admissible, she should not stay in the country for too long (e.g., the alien already has spent a lot of time in the US on previous visits within recent past, or the inspector is unsatisfied about alien's ability to pay for her expenses in the US).

So just book the tickets for as long as you plan to stay, as long as it is less than 6 months, and hope that nothing undue happens.

In practice, though, if the visitor is asked how long she plans to stay, and she gives plans for what seems to be an unusually long period of stay (say, 5 months), some additional questioning may follow. The inspector wants to be satisfied that the alien still has the intent to return to an un-abandoned residence abroad, and that she is not likely to resort to unauthorized employment while in the US. But long stays are not unusual, especially with retirees or with aliens who visit with their family members temporarily present in the US (e.g. as F-1 students or H-1(b) workers) as B-2 visitors (rather than derivative visa holders: F-2, H-4, etc).

Edited May 5, 2015 by Qilipu

[Bill and Soumanti 0]

The desire is for her to stay 5 months. She was here in February to check out UH as a possible post-grad destination. She received that visa with no problem and returned to India as planned. The intent of this trip would be to see friends, research UH more and in general enjoy Hawai`i and chill after completing an intense Masters program. She would stay with me the entire time.

[KierenHby 897]

You answered your own question. Why the confusion?

Generalizing here, but most visitors can come to see friends, research schools, and in general enjoy the US in 5 months.