Canadians in the US?

Question

When my work Visa expires, can I stay in the US for an additional 6 months?

Answer 1

You need to ask the US Government agency putting out visas, not us. Let your visa lapse and you instantly become an illegal immigrant. You don't wish to go there. It's NOT worth the risk of jail or deportation.

US values Canadian workers, they are educated and speak English. I doubt you will have any trouble in acquiring an extension on your visa, but you need to get authorization from the American government so you do things right and make Canada proud.

Answer 2

A visa is a document usually placed on a page of a passport by a visa officer at an embassy or consulate.

Citizens of Canada are exempt the nonimmigrant visa requirement except for the classes E, K, & V. To live permanently in the U.S., Canadians are never exempt the immigrant visa requirement.

If you were issued an E, K or V visa by a U.S. consulate, then you were also given a Form I-94 at the time of entry. It is the expiration date on your I-94 that governs how long you can stay in the U.S., not a visa's expiration date.

You may have been issued an I-94 even if you were exempt the visa requirement. Hockey players get I-94's when they enter to play for a U.S. based team. They're P-1's.

Engineers may come in under NAFTA. There's no visa required, but they would get an I-94 with the TN class on it plus a period of authorized stay.

If your authorized stay ends on a fixed date, that's how long you can stay. If you wanted to stay another 6 months on top of what you were given on your I-94, you need to file Form I-539 with CIS and request a change of status to the classification appropriate to your new plans.

Answer 3

Technically, I don't think you can, as you entered on a work visa, not a personal travel visa, and you might need to go to the border to re enter the country if you have some sort of visa stamped in your passport (one that they are suppose to take when you leave the country).

When you enter into the US normally for personal reasons, you don't officially get a visa stamped into your passport/etc, but it still is considered as if you were issued a 6 month visa to visit.

Typically they won't deport you unless you cause problems, or for some reason they have record of you entering the country and never leaving, and they decide to hunt you down.

Then again, if you are found to be illegally in the country, it can hurt your chances of entering the country in the future.

Answer 4

Living here, not really.

Being a Canadian and already having been in the country it shouldn't be too hard to get an extension. You just have to ask the right people.

You definitely can't keep working without a valid Visa.

Answer 5

I hope they allow all Canadians to stay. Also, you can always go to where large groups of illegal Spanish speakers are and file paperwork for citizenship.

I live and work in El Paso. You would be surprise how easy it is for an illegal to come in and become a citizen. Right down the street from where I work, they help folk become citizen. Find a large Catholic organization. The Catholics help them because it helps their churches to grow in numbers and offering.