crg

This says no VWP for filming. If it's the person's occupation, they can't film.

9 FAM 41.31 N11.3 Entertainers
(CT:VISA-1753; 10-21-2011)
a. Except for the following cases, B visa status is not appropriate for a member of the entertainment profession (professional entertainer) who seeks to enter the United States temporarily to perform services. Instead, performers should be accorded another appropriate visa classification, which in most cases will be P, regardless of the amount or source of compensation, whether the services will involve public appearance(s), or whether the performance is for charity or U.S. based ethnic society. (See 9 FAM 41.31 N13.7 on B-2 visas for amateur performances.)
b. The term “member of the entertainment profession” includes not only performing artists such as stage and movie actors, musicians, singers and dancers, but also other personnel such as technicians, electricians, make-up specialists, film crew members coming to the United States to produce films, etc.

cocokaren

Hi all. The replies about the in-out time frames are a bit confusing. Does anyone have experience of flying in and out to stay in a vacation home? I know we Brits can only stay up to 180 days per year in US, but has anyone been refused entry to go and stay in their holiday property? Do the 180 days need to be within a calendar year i.e Jan to Dec 2015 or could it be eg May 2015 to April 2016? Has anyone been told a specific time that they need to leave it before they cab=n return? Obviously the longer the better but if you have a vacation property, well, you want to use it don't you?

Noorah101

It's not true that the limit is 180 days a year. The limit is 90 days per entry. How often the POE officer allows you to enter is questionable. Best results are to stay outside the USA longer than inside. But there's nothing written in stone except that each entry is limited to 90 days.

Owning property in the USA makes no difference.

Rene

mikelincs

Your biggest problem might not be using the VWP multiple times, BUT the length of time you stay in the US, go over 183 days and the IRS will consider you to be tax resident, and want their cut of everything you earn all over the world.

ian-mstm

People have, yes indeed.


Each entry is at the discretion of the CBP officer at the PoE. If one officer turns you away and says don't return for 93 days... and then you return 93 days later, the CBP officer who processes you this time could still turn you away again - and you have absolutely no recourse whatsoever.


The CBP officer isn't obligated to ever let you enter the US... and having property in the US makes no difference whatsoever.

Ian

Steve_

Having a vacation home makes it less likely that they let you in (if anything), not more likely because clearly you have a residence in the US.

I had a neighbour who was Belgian who was denied entry. Anyway it's not 180 days either, what they're looking for is "non-immigrant intent", so if you're in the US for more than six months in the past year, it looks as though you live in the US. But it's not a written rule, it's more of a rule of thumb based on your duration of stay. It's just one thing used to determine non-immigrant intent.

Well the specific date you have to leave by would be on your I-94. This whole counting of days thing gets up my nose, I hear it so often, I've even seen a Canadian who had a calendar and was crossing off the days (Canadians don't get I-94s). The law basically requires two things, you have a residence abroad you have no intention of abandoning, plus you must be a bona fide visitor for business or pleasure. Which means you must have non-immigrant intent and everything flows from that. An I-94 for a B-1/2 visa holder is granted for six months.

If you don't have non-immigrant intent they won't let you in for one day.