extending wife's stay while she's here in the states

[trailmix 77]

Why is it odd to get a B2? Over the last 5 yrs, I have a bunch of B2s visas stamped all over my passport due to visiting boyfriend-then-fiance-finally-hubby in the US. I thought it was just an ordinary travel visa, good for 6 months?

I don't mean odd....as in freakishly weird....just odd as in, it's not generally the norm.

Edited February 16, 2010 by trailmix

[Revenesque 2]

I don't mean odd....as in freakishly weird....just odd as in, it's not generally the norm.

Interesting!...I thought it was just laziness when they don't stamp my passport with B2 visa.

[LiLMermaid 2]

Last time the kids and I went across ours was stamped with a B2 as well. Kinda freaked me out honestly because our passports had never been stamped before. The border guard never said anything and I didn't even notice that they had been stamped until long after we came home.

[trailmix 77]

Interestingly long ago they did record everyone who entered the U.S. - including Canadians. I have a border crossing record of my Grandfather entering the U.S. in 1926.

[JaJo08 0]

Interestingly long ago they did record everyone who entered the U.S. - including Canadians. I have a border crossing record of my Grandfather entering the U.S. in 1926.

Yes, it is a little odd being that when she's visited me in the past, her passport has never been stamped. Either way, it sounds like the consensus is that it's fine if she stays the extra week or so. In total, it'll be less than 30 days so I don't see why it would be an issue.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Yes, she should be fine to stay the extra week. Since there is no date anywhere in evidence in the passport - just the statement of the B2 visa - I would expect her to be able to stay the 6 month maximum that Canadians are allowed unless told otherwise. Three or four weeks instead of two will not be a problem. Good luck at the interview!

[raymaga 25]

I crossed the border to visit my husband (fiance at the time) many many times and never had my passport stamped with anything because Canadians just enter the U.S. with their passport as a visitor.

It seems weird to me that they now enter B2 visa, but maybe that's something new.

[HeatDeath 430]

When I've driven down I've never gotten a stamp, except when I entered with my K-1. When I've flown down, I always got a stamp, but sometimes they wrote "B-2" in on the stamp, and sometimes they didn't. I think it may depend on the CBP officer. I have a stamp in my passport from 2007, two from flights from 2008, and two from entries in 2009: a flight in March and a K-1 entry via a land PoE in July. The 2007 stamp was left unwritten on. My two flights in 2008 were both given written B-2 indicators, but first flight in 2009 was not. The second stamp from 2009 is from my K-1 entry via a land PoE, and is of course marked with pen as a K-1, valid until October 9, 2009, just like my I-94.

That some of the stamps had no indicated visa type made things a little interesting when I went to fill in the "Visa Issuances" question on the DS-156. I had to asterisk the visa type and indicate at the bottom of the attachment: "Passport stamped but visa type not indicated. Purpose of trip was Visitor for Pleasure." Shrug. The consulate seemed to accept it.

At any rate, if you have no indication, either verbal or written, of a specific time by which you have to return, and certainly no I-94 (which would have a hard date on it), then the limit is very likely 6 months and the difference between 2 and 3 weeks won't matter at all.