Can I extend my Tourist visa?

Many people travel to the United States with a nonimmigrant visa and wish to stay longer than they had thought and longer than they were authorized by Immigration at some port of entry, such as the airport.

Are you one of those people? Then read carefully to see if you can extend your stay as a tourist.

The B1 / B2 tourist visa allows you to be within the United States for a period of 6 months and extend it for an additional period of up 6 months.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service allows foreign citizens to request an extension (an extension) at their time of stay. But beware! As long as the foreigner continues with the same intentions and activities that they reported they were going to do at the beginning of the trip.

Not all people can request this extension. You have to meet the requirements requested by Immigration.

The requirements are as follows:

• You had to have been legally admitted to the United States

• You have not committed any crime

• You have to submit the corresponding application before the expiration of your initial stay.

Within the same visa extension application, all members of your family (spouses and children under 21 years of age) may be included.

To start the tourist visa extension process, it is also required to collect some documents from your country of origin. Therefore, we recommend starting this process between 6-8 weeks prior to the expiration of your allowed stay. It must be taken into account that some documents take time to obtain since not all countries have online documentation that you can download and use.

Now … What happens if we do not extend the tourist visa and stay longer than allowed?

If you are out of the status in the United States, the US government might deport you.
Also, your tourist visa could be canceled and, depending on your situation and the time you have been without status, you could be denied entry on future trips to the United States, even if you were out of status for only 24 hours!!

One of the most important punishments is that you might be inadmissible to enter the United States for a period between 3 to 10 years. If this happens, you must request a waiver to be able to return to the United States legally, but it will depend on your circumstances.

Ready to travel?

I hope you liked this information and that it was valuable!