Renewing a B1/B2 USA visa allowance...

[Baron Bolton]

When we re-entered the States after 2 months in Baja, the nice lady at customs and border protection gave us a bit of a hard time.
She seemed suspicious of the motorcycle trip we are on, and asked for proof of our financial stability; bank statements or a letter from employer.

Since this isn't something we carry around with us, she gave us just one month entry, stamped on a little while form (I-94A). She said we could extend this in any large city in America.

We are approaching this exit date, and talked to Customs and Neutralization this morning. The options seem to be limited to:

A) Get out of America before the date stamped on this form

B) Send off form I-539, which is an application for extension. It takes 2 1/2 months to process, and costs $300 for each of us to make the application. While application is in progress, we can stay.

Does anyone have experience of this situation?

I think the easiest solution may be to cross back into Mexico (We are now in Phoenix, AZ), then come back into America, armed (bad choice of verb?) with bank statements, proof of onward travel, and letters from employers in the UK.....


What do you think? Any input appreciated

[Bennett]

hello Gabe;
I do not know if this would effect you,but crossing into Mexico does not cancel your US visa,same if you exit via Canada.
Regards Ben

[Baron Bolton]

Thanks Ben, we had kinda thought about this but didn't know the details really.

Last time we were in Mexico our visa expired while we were there, so this wasn't an issue.
We thought if we surrendered the little white form on exit from USA (as it says we have to, on the form) maybe they'd scrap that entry allowance and we could start a new one on re-entry.

But no idea how/where/who we'd surrender the form to, as last time crossing to Baja, we just drove straight through and didn't even speak to anyone.

Probably best we spend a week or two in Mex, see Copper Canyon, let the visa lapse, and re-enter and start a new one.

Thanks for the info

[Bennett]

Gabe;
I was advised that if I did not surrender that bit of paper on exit from the US there would be problems on re entry.I ended going to the US embassy in Panama,was given a form to fill in and had to post it back to the US registered mail.Perhaps you could obtain one of these forms and post it back when you venture down to Mexico.As you say there is no where to hand it in as you exit from the US.
Ben
How about waiting until late July and I could join you riding down to Copper Canyon.