ukbritguyusa

Hi everyone,

I am currently in the US on a 3 month Visa Waiver. I would love to stay longer than my 3 months so I can visit more family. The Visa Waiver is due to run out in the middle of September.

I am told by a friend who is fairly reliable that it is quite easy to get another 3 month extension if I apply for it. Does anyone know about this? I am from England by the way.

Does anyone have experience of this? Could I do this? Would any questions be asked of me?

Any help as always is much appreciated.

Matt

rsk153

I believe you would need to get in touch with an immigration office - I'm positive you can extend it!

ukbritguyusa

Hey, thanks for your reply.

I didn't really want to spend any money on this, just want to see if anybody on here either knew anything about it or had some experience of it....??

Thanks again!

Manc

If you are in ICU maybe...........other than that unless you do a border run there is no extending the VWP

207lonsdale

My understanding is that you cannot extend your stay if you entered under the VWP.

Why are you so positive that this person can extend his stay?

Ray

And you better have at least two severed legs...
It is NOT extendable

rsk153

An extension is possible under the VWP - if you can prove any extenuating circumstances as to why you wish to... A friend of mine had an extension a few years - his excuse was wanted additional time to visit friends and family in another state... Well its better to gain permision than jump your 90 days...

Joachim Feise

rsk153 wrote on 7/26/2004 6:50:
    > Originally posted by 207lonsdale
    >
    >>My understanding is
    >
    > that you cannot extend your stay if you entered under the VWP.
    >
    >>Why
    >
    > are you so positive that this person can extend his stay?
    >
    > An
    > extension is possible under the VWP - if you can prove any extenuating
    > circumstances as to why you wish to...

Absolute BS. You can *not* extend a visa waiver.

    > A friend of mine had an extension
    > a few years - his excuse was wanted additional time to visit friends and
    > family in another state...

Impossible. Whatever your friend did, he could *not* have gotten a
visa waiver extension.
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/extendstay.htm
"You may not apply to extend your stay if you were admitted to the United States
in the following visa categories:
(VWP) - Visa Waiver Program"

-Joe

Joachim Feise

ukbritguyusa wrote on 7/25/2004 21:28:
    > I am told by
    > a friend who is fairly reliable that it is quite easy to get another 3
    > month extension if I apply for it. Does anyone know about this? I am

You can *not* extend a visa waiver. Period. End of story.

-Joe

crg

There is NO extension of the visa waiver program. If there's a life or death reason you can apply for "satisfactory departure" to get a maximum of another 30 days. The district office can grant this benefit, but someone better be dead or dying.

CPW

My very strong understanding is that you CANNOT extend your stay in the US if you enter under the visa waiver program. No doubt there might be complicated fall-back arrangements for people who genuinely cannot leave because they are mortally ill etc etc, but in all ordinary circumstances the length of stay permitted by the immigration officer at the point of entry cannot be extended.

The US authorities are quite clear on this point, and it is one of the big differences between a visa waiver entry and entry on a short-stay visa. So, if I were the original poster and I wanted to be able to visit friends and family in the US again in the future, I wouldn't even think about staying beyond the date permitted on entry.

207lonsdale

I also had a "friend" who told me that her "friend" extended the VWP several times simply by saying "he needed to extend his stay to help a friend".

Eventually, that "friend" admitted that she didn't actually know how the "friend" of a "friend" extended his stay. Third hand information can sometimes be very unreliable!

When I say that the VWP cannot be extended I am quoting information confirmed by Folinskyinla, an immigration attorney.

Further, wanting to visit friends and family in another state could hardly be described as "extenuating circumstances"!

207lonsdale

To clarify, this quote is taken from the website for the US Embassy in London:

***If I travel to the United States visa free under the Visa Waiver Program, will I be able to get the 90 days extended?
No, the maximum period of time you may remain in the United States if you enter visa free, is 90 days.***

J. J. Farrell

rsk153 <member26992@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    >
    > An extension is possible under the VWP - if you can prove any
    > extenuating circumstances as to why you wish to...

Please quote the relevant law or regulations, or at least give
a reference to an official website, to substantiate this claim.

    > A friend of mine had an extension a few years - his excuse
    > was wanted additional time to visit friends and family in
    > another state...

By what stretch of the imagination was that an extenuating
circumstance?

    > Well its better to gain permision than jump your 90 days...

Indeed, but since it's not possible to get permission...

It has been known for people who are declared by approved doctors
to be medically unfit for travel to be forgiven for overstaying a
visa waiver. This is the sort of thing that is meant by 'extnuating
circumstances'. Even then, it's a sort of parole not an extension
of the visa waiver.

J. J. Farrell

ukbritguyusa <member8253@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    >
    > I am currently in the US on a 3 month Visa Waiver. I would
    > love to stay longer than my 3 months so I can visit more family.
    > The Visa Waiver is due to run out in the middle of September.
    >
    > I am told by a friend who is fairly reliable that it is quite
    > easy to get another 3 month extension if I apply for it. Does
    > anyone know about this? I am from England by the way.

He's not reliable in this case. It is not possible to extend
a Visa Waiver visit.

You may be able to do a "border hop" by travelling briefly
(perhaps just minutes) to Mexico or Canada then re-entering the
USA on a Visa Waiver. Some people report success doing this, but
there is no guarantee - many be refused re-entry. If you choose
to try this, bear in mind that you will have to travel on from
wherever you end up without re-entering the USA if they don't
let you back in.