travelling to the states...

missholmes

Hello everyone.

I was just looking for a bit of help. I have quite a lot of friends in the States and i was hoping to go and visit them and do some travelling. I'm a bit stuck when it comes to visas though. I know there's the one for if you're staying up to 90 days... but what if you want to stay longer?

I know Australia has the year long working holiday visa. Does the US have anything similar?

I'm not actually interested in working, I'd just like to stay longer than 90 days!!

thanks

x

richardw

Have a browse http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html

dzug1

missholmes wrote: »

Hello everyone.

I was just looking for a bit of help. I have quite a lot of friends in the States and i was hoping to go and visit them and do some travelling. I'm a bit stuck when it comes to visas though. I know there's the one for if you're staying up to 90 days... but what if you want to stay longer?

I know Australia has the year long working holiday visa. Does the US have anything similar?

I'm not actually interested in working, I'd just like to stay longer than 90 days!!

thanks

x

You apply to the Embassy for a B2 tourist visa. This is normally valid for multiple entries for 10 years. Each visit is normally limited to 180 days (sometimes shorter) but you can extend that (for a large fee) whilst you are there.

The US has no working holiday visa, for Brits anyway.

DavidHayton

Depending on where you are in the US, a well-timed side-trip to Canada can break up your stay in the US so that you are not in the US longer than 90 days. However to make this work you would have to tell the Canadian authorities that you were leaving the US, and then re-apply to the US authorities on re-entry. They may give you some grief about this and grill you to check that you have sufficient funds and you are planning to leave when you promised.
That said, the last time I entered the US, I am pretty sure I was given a six-month stamp in my passport. Since I was there for less than six hours it was rather academic.
David

dzug1

DavidHayton wrote: »

Depending on where you are in the US, a well-timed side-trip to Canada can break up your stay in the US so that you are not in the US longer than 90 days. However to make this work you would have to tell the Canadian authorities that you were leaving the US, and then re-apply to the US authorities on re-entry. They may give you some grief about this and grill you to check that you have sufficient funds and you are planning to leave when you promised.
That said, the last time I entered the US, I am pretty sure I was given a six-month stamp in my passport. Since I was there for less than six hours it was rather academic.
David

That may work some of the time, but it's against the rules. Time spent in Canada counts towards the 90 days. The rule may not always be enforced, but you have no appeal if it is.

If you were given a 6 month stamp you were travelling on a visa. The visa waiver scheme is strictly 90 days.