claphamer

Hi all,

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this but I've received helpful advice in the past so here goes. My boyfriend and I (29M, 27F) are in the process of planning a couple of big trips before we get married and buy a flat. I have always wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (~2650 miles from Mexico to Canada) and have done years of research into making this happen. It's quite common for international people to hike this, and in order to do so in one year you need to be granted a B2 visa as it takes about 5-6 months. From what I understand from reading other people's experiences, most of the time this is granted but sometimes people get denied this visa and then can't use the visa waiver platform to travel to the US for X years (indefinitely? forever?). Things we know we need to prepare are return flights and letters stating we can have our jobs back here, evidence of family ties etc. and enough savings to last in the US as well as information about the trip.

Our issue is that we are also planning to do the Mongol Rally first, which involves travel through Eastern Europe, some of the Stans and/or Russia and/or Iran depending on the route we choose. We are also hoping to visit family friends in Saint Petersburg, Russia next year.

My concerns are that if we have the Mongol rally travel on our passports we won't be granted US visas, as I understand the current administration is less than enthusiastic about some of those countries. I wonder whether anyone could offer their perspective on this? It is possible that we could reverse the order and hike the PCT first. In this scenario, I assume our B2 visas (if granted) would still be valid for US travel even if we did the Mongol rally afterwards for 10 years?

Basically what I'm trying to work out is if doing the rally first will make it very difficult for us to get the visa we need for the PCT. This is all hopefully from 2021/2022 so we are financially planning already and need some help with immigration concerns. If this is all unnecessary worrying I'm happy to hear it!

civilservant

You are correct that hiking something like the PCT may well allow you to be granted a B2, but you are incorrect in assuming that it will be for 10 years. In fact, as an initial B2, and because you are eligible for the VWP (and only needing this visa because of your proposed itinerary), it might actually be single entry, valid for 12 months only.

As to visiting the 'unfriendly' countries that US doesn't like to see stamps for, I would suggest that you do the US part of your trip first, and not mention the second part. Not only will this avoid questions (such as how on earth are you taking this much time off work?) but it will also avoid getting entangled in security issues.

Of course, if the visa does indeed wind up being single entry, then it isn't an issue. Except if you want to return to the US under the VWP, in which case you'll have to declare travel to those countries anyway.

claphamer

This is very helpful, thank you! I assumed it was automatic, but either way it doesn't really matter as for the PCT if it all goes to plan we'd only need it for the one year. As an aside, if we wanted to travel to the US for a normal holiday after would we apply for the visa waiver ESTA as usual?

As for taking so much time off work, we can't. For the PCT we will be quitting our jobs and contracting in between, or possibly taking extended leave for the rally depending on where we work. But he is due a sabbatical and I am very easily able to pick up locum shifts in my profession so we are fortunate in that respect. However, that would make it harder for us to prove ties to the UK for the B2. Are there any other things aside from what I've already thought of we can include to make us look like less of an overstay risk?

civilservant

Someone else can correct me on this, since I am not 100% sure, but I think that declaring travel to an unfriendly country (which obviously with a stamp in your passport you have to do) may mean that your ESTA will be denied. If that happens, then you'll need another B2.

That was my fear - newly married, no job, no kids, nothing to absolutely have to return to the UK for. Makes the B2 a little more risky.

Any way you could break up the trips into several 89 day visits?

tht

scrubbedexpat099

No go list:

• Nationals of VWP countries who have traveled to or been present in Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen on or after March 1, 2011 (with limited exceptions for travel for diplomatic or military purposes in the service of a VWP country).
• Nationals of VWP countries who are also nationals of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria.
  

claphamer

Thanks for this. What does "no go" mean exactly? Does this mean travel to any of these places means we won't be able to get any visa to the States, ESTA or B2?

civilservant

People who has visited these countries are not eligible for the VWP and need a B2.

mikelincs

Also the application may well take longer than those with no 'bad' travel history.

claphamer

Yes this is absolutely my concern with planning for 90 days. People do hike the PCT in long sections so we could do it over two years but would be putting ourselves in difficulty with jobs because we can contract for a while but doing it for several years consecutively (and all the associated faff of renting for ~9 months at a time etc.) would be difficult. With resetting the clock so to speak, would we fly to e.g. Tokyo and then be able to fly back in a few days later? This seems somewhat risky and expensive.

With getting the B2 visas, what else can we add to prove ties to coming back to the UK? This is probably the thing I'm most anxious about.

scrubbedexpat099

We;ll the application is designed to obtain the information needed for a B, unusual for many questions to be asked.

tht

claphamer

You're right, there are a good few active forums for people hiking. Reddit has a really big backpacking community and I think they will also have good visa advice so I'm going to head there too. The PCT permit process is a whole other headache, one to worry about in a couple of years. This thread has at least proved to me that we should do the PCT first, which is very helpful to know. Thanks!