Overstayed by 1 day, what do I do?

[benevolo 0]

I'm a Canadian citizen / med student doing some elective rotations in the US, and I was given a B1 visitor visa to do this for 6 months. My visa expired yesterday and I was scheduled to fly out yesterday, but the flight was cancelled due to bad weather. I'm rebooked on a flight this morning 8 hours past my deadline. I have documenation from the airliner explaining why I was delayed in leaving.

I plan on coming back to the US for more rotations in August and will be applying for another B1 visa at that time for another 6 month stay. Will I encounter any troubles when I cross the border, and should I do anything in the meantime before I leave? Should I bring anything with me when I cross the border in 1 month, besides the documenation of my flight cancellation?

Thanks for any advice.

[stronger 43]

This happened to me years ago. You just make sure you print out somewhere or have a ticket agent print some sort of proof of cancelled ticket.

[stronger 43]

Ah sorry...I see now you said you have this already. You should be fine. It was never an issue with me. You do not go through customs leaving the US. You go through Canadian customs, and they do not stamp your passport.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

If your visa expired on June 30, 2011 (that would be 1 second before the clock turns midnight and the day of July 1, 2001 begins), and you leave on July 1 at 8:00 a.m., basically 8 hours later, you do not have 1 day of overstay accumulated.

1 day = 24 hours.

So your statement is wrong from the get-go.

Edited July 1, 2011 by Just Bob

[benevolo 0]

If your visa expired on June 30, 2011 (that would be 1 second before the clock turns midnight and the day of July 1, 2001 begins), and you leave on July 1 at 8:00 a.m., basically 8 hours later, you do not have 1 day of overstay accumulated.

1 day = 24 hours.

So your statement is wrong from the get-go.

Thanks Mr. Pedantic man, I didn't realize that the only interpretation of 1 day was 24 hours. Are you a robot? Unfortunately the immigration laws don't say you're allowed to stay even 1 second past the end of your visa length, so your reply was wrong from the get-go.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Please watch the tone of the discussions, ok? It is not necessary to become insulting when making a comment or responding to one. 'Harsh' judgments are also not necessary.

benevolo, you did your best to fulfill the terms of the visa and had scheduled a flight that would make sure you left on time. Due to circumstances beyond your control you ended up leaving the day after the visa's expiry. You have proof both of the originally scheduled flight and the re-scheduled flight, along with the reasons for it. It was not your intention to overstay the visa and you took reasonable steps to make sure you fulfilled its requirements. When asked if you have ever overstayed a visa - if you are asked - honestly state 'yes, my booked flight was cancelled due to bad weather and I ended up not being able to leave until the next day'. In this case, you offer up front the information about the 'reason' for your overstay. You can then offer the documentation to support your statement. I don't foresee you having any problems under the circumstances - just be sure that you always answer that question about an overstay with a 'yes' because you don't want them to hold a 'no' against you.

For clarification purposes, it is always safer to accept that a visa that ends on June 30 is still an overstay on July 1st regardless of the 'hours' involved. Those who hold a K-1 visa who did not get married on the 90th day of that visa - the day it expires - but waited until the 91st day - are considered to have failed to meet the requirements of the visa - whether it is by one second or 23 hours. You don't want to play the semantics game with USCIS or the border.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Kathryn41

[benevolo 0]

Thanks for the information, Kathryn! The only reason I am worried was the customs website says a cancelled flight is not an excuse for overstaying your visa, so I was a bit concerned on that regard. I guess it's up to the person I speak to when I enter again. Although as someone mentioned it doesn't seem like they have access to when I left the country anyway since my passport isn't stamped, unless they called up Canadian immigration to ask them? Although if I am asked if I overstayed, I will be honest about it.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I think the reason the customs site says a cancelled flight is no excuse is because you had six months to stay and leave, yet you chose to leave the very last day so you took the risk. Maybe it's to stop people cutting it so close and having lots of people overstay thanks to unreliable airlines/weather?

I would HOPE such a small overstay wouldn't be an issue but only time will tell.

Edited July 3, 2011 by Vanessa&Tony

[benevolo 0]

I think the reason the customs site says a cancelled flight is no excuse is because you had six months to stay and leave, yet you chose to leave the very last day so you took the risk. Maybe it's to stop people cutting it so close and having lots of people overstay thanks to unreliable airlines/weather?

I would HOPE such a small overstay wouldn't be an issue but only time will tell.

My clinical rotations were up until June 30th, which is why the officer gave me up until that date on my visa. I just looked and the length of visa was actually only 5 months and some change, but Canadians are allowed to study for up to 6 months without even needing a visa in the first place. I wonder if that has any bearing on it? I guess I will have to find out when I go back again.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

A single day of unlawful presence does not trigger any ban.

In this case, the overstay was due to a factor outside the OP's control - bad weather which the airline determined to be dangerous to fly in. The POE officer will use his/her discretion and there shouldn't be any problem.

[Krikit 1,165]

Here is the official (CBP) response which can be found at the bottom of this link.

"Delays beyond the traveler's control, such as cancelled or delayed flights, medical emergencies requiring a doctor's care, etc. are not considered unauthorized overstays, however, you will need to bring proof of the cause of your overstay next time you travel to the U.S. in order for it to be forgiven. For airline delays, ask the airline for a letter affirming the delay or a copy of your cancelled boarding pass."