Visa expiry imminent, extension application still pending - advice please!

[dan_b 0]

Hi everyone,

My B1 visa is due to expire on December 25th. My application to extend my stay here (I-539) was confirmed received on October 17th but is still being processed and I have heard nothing so far.

USCIS status states it is at the Initial Review stage. I have tried to enter the same EAC receipt number on the phone line to hopefully get through to an agent, but it will not accept my number.

I am due to return to the UK on December 23rd.

Please can you advise me how my visa extension application is likely to be affected by:

a) leaving the country at all, and what would be the consequences of staying and waiting for the extension result?

b) leaving and waiting in the UK for an extension - what happens once my visa actually expires on the 25th? Is it expunged from the system affectively making my extension application moot?

c) Or if refused, reapplying to work (volunteer) for the same program on the same visa under the same terms?

d) Would I be likely to be granted an ESTA visa in the event of my extension being denied? If so, how soon?

Any replies to any of that would be very gratefully received!

Tomorrow I am going to seek advice from the immigration office at the airport, although they usually give you short shrift and try to get rid of you asap.

Many thanks in advance,

Dan

[Hypnos 6,576]

(a) If you leave the country the application is deemed abandoned. If you wait for the decision you are in a legal status called "tolling", provided that USCIS does not consider your extension application "frivolous".

(b) Yes. To be clear, you are seeking an extension of your B-1 status, not your visa. Your visa is the document you present to CBP which gives you permission to apply to enter. You have already entered, so are seeking to extend your already-granted status.

(cee) If you remain in the US and your extension request is denied, you are usually given 30 days to depart the US.

(d) There's no way to know, but in general terms you should aim to spend more time outside the US than inside it, when you have previously been admitted on either a B visa or visa waiver. For example, if you have been present in the US for 4 months and your extension was asking for another 4 months, this would put you over 6 months and so you would probably be denied. If you obtained an approved ESTA and wanted to stay for three months, this would again put you over six months so you may run into issues there.

Going to a Deferred Inspection site at the airpoint is pointless, since you've already filed a timely extension request, so there's absolutely nothing they can do for you one way or another. CBP's job is either to let you in or keep you out, after that their part in this process is ended.

You can legally remain in the US pending the decision on the I-539 extension. It's important that you understand the difference between the expiry of your visa and the expiry of your I-94, though.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Hypnos

[RhettVoe 282]

What sort of "volunteer" work are you doing?