lyndonthompson

If you buy an holiday home in the US, how long are you allowed to stay in the country each year?

Regards

Noorah101

Owning a home doesn't make any difference. You'll be allowed to stay as long as the POE agent allows you to. A lot of it will depend on what visa you enter the USA with.

Rene

lyndonthompson

Thanks, whats a POE agent? also, I didn't think UK passport holders needed visa providing they had a chip in their passport.

chicagojlo

You don't need a visa to come here as a tourist for 90 days. But being here as a tourist isn't going to give you many rights. You won't be able to get a social security number for instance.

ian-mstm

POE - port of entry.


They don't need a visa (chip or no chip) if they only want to visit for 3 months. If you want to visit for more than that, you need a visa.

Ian

Noorah101

If you use the VWP for up to 90 day visits, there is no set number of times you can do this per year. A good general rule of thumb is to spend at least as much time outside the USA as inside...so come for 89 days, stay back in the UK for 90+ days, and try again. The problem with that is, if you keep doing it too often, you run the risk of getting denied entry at some point.

Is this for retirement purposes? If you are retired, it might be easier to get a B-1 visa and be able to stay for up to 6 months at a time.

Rene

lyndonthompson

Ok so you can stay 3 months at a time, but is there a limit to how many days a year?

thanks

fatbrit

How old are you?

scrubbedexpat099

You need to re-read the replies, you are jumping to conclusions.

chicagojlo

This is the reply you should re-read. The point about doing it too often is worth re-reading twice.

Noorah101

No.

lyndonthompson

sorry the reply wasn't there when I typed my post. Thanks for that.

Basically I'm an amatuer astronomer; now-adays we don't stand outside all night but build images using CCD camera's and computers. All this can be operated remotely in an obervatory at the bottom of your garden using a LAN or equally in an observatory in Arizona using WAN. New Mexico and Arizona are just about as good as it gets for astronomy and there is a good astronomy community out there.

I am considering purchasing a "holiday ranch" where I could setup my equipment and spend time out there and even control the equipment remotely. It wouldn't be a permenant retirement because I'm only 38 but if allowable, I wouldn't rule it out for the future.

Noorah101

Just as a hobby, right? You can't do any work which earns income while you're here on the VWP.

I would be concerned leaving any kind of equipment here for months at a time...what if you can't get back in the USA at some point?

Rene

lyndonthompson

why would that be? I mean not being allowed in.

the property would be a bigger loss financially than the equipment. i suppose you mean I could sell the property, but likewise I could always get someone to take down the equipment and ship it back.

I see you live in Phoenix. Payson and Cottonwood are popular with astronomers.

Noorah101

As I mentioned, if you visit the USA too often, they start questioning you a lot each time you enter. Eventually it could lead to a denial of entry.

Just make sure you bring strong ties to your home country...a letter from your employer when you are due back at work, letter from school if you need to be back to attend class, proof of lease or mortgage, that sort of thing...so they don't start thinking you're trying to live in the USA.

I'm sure you won't have any problem for a few visits, if they are spaced out far enough. Not sure how long you are planning to do that routine, though.

Rene