Do you have an expiring American visa? There is a legal way to extend your stay. You do not know how to do it? We’ll talk about it here.

Get in touch with the citizenship and immigration service

Only the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is authorized to extend the stay in the United States. Be careful, however, taking care of the visa expiry date. To do this, often look in the lower right corner of the I-94 form that was issued to you when you arrived at host soil.

If you notice that the expiry date is approaching, then submit a request for the extension or renewal of the said residence permit 45 days before the end of the previous one. Your request should be made on the basis of Form I-539. This approach is considerate because failing to initiate it, you risk expulsion if the duration of the authorized presence were to end.

Comply with the extension conditions

Not everyone is eligible for a long-stay visa in the United States. One must be free from certain irregularities in order to hope to benefit from another permission to live freely on American soil. Indeed, citizenship criteria are very important in this country.

Here is the exemplary profile to which the USCIS can grant an extension of the stay:

  • have been duly authorized to enter the United States,
  • hold a valid passport,
  • not to have committed a crime,
  • have a valid non-immigrant status,
  • not to have violated the conditions to which you were subjected on your arrival.

Be aware that if you are recognized as a couple of a single crime, this may be enough to justify the rejection of any visa application.

Restrictive conditions which do not give entitlement to a visa

Five formally defined statutes exempt visa recipients. Here they are as stated by Immigration. People who have a non-immigrant category D visa, and those who hold a non-immigrant C visa because they are in transit, are spared the renewal of the residence permit.

The same is true for those who are in transit Without Visa and those who are engaged to a US citizen. This category of residents has what is called the K visa. In all cases, you must be dependent on a non-immigrant citizen. The last profile is that of the informant on terrorism and organized crime. These people and their families are covered because they have been granted the S visa.

Read carefully the Guides on the non-immigrant status and its duties

More information is available on USCIS physical or virtual sites. These are generally documents which are very important to read in order to prevent any surprises. These are the Request for extension or modification of non-immigrant status (I-539), the Replacement request, or the initial arrival-departure document for a non-immigrant.

Other sources of information are also available, namely the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). United States Customs and Border Protection is a highly recommended address.