Traveling Abroad on a

Temporary Visa

Immigration Attorneys

Carl Shusterman and Raj Iyer

City of Hope

October 29, 2013

To Travel or Not to Travel?

• Risk of traveling for certain visa types

▫ E.g. F-1/OPT students/J-1 visa holders

• Non-Immigrants on a single intent visa who have applied for a green card; or have a green card denial

• No longer have close ties to home country

• Any other admissibility issues

DS 160 Form

• https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/

• Block a specific period of time

• Assemble the documents

• Tricky question in DS-160

• Changes to be made in the forms

Setting Up Your Interview

• Set it up during the first part of your vacation

• Review the Consulate requirements

• Fees

• Keep some extra time for Biometrics

• Dependents

Interview Waiver Program

• Criteria

http://www.ustraveldocs.com

• Drop Box facilities

Preparation with an Attorney

• Review the documents/job duties

• Any possible admissibility issues/violation of status

Processing of Visas in a Third Country

(Canada/Mexico)

• Benefits/Risks

• Visa requirement of Canada/Mexico

• Guidelines/Policy of US consulates in Canada/Mexico

• Timeline/Wait time

Visa Validity

• Country reciprocity as far as the duration and number of entries permitted on a visa

• China – 12 Months Multiple entry

• India- Duration of the petition or 5 years

Persons Who Don’t Require a Visa

• 6 months passport

• Information on the approval/I-94

• Any violations/admissibility issues

• Getting new even if current visa is valid

• Reviewing dependent’s visas and information

Latest CBP Issues

• No I-94 issuance

• I-94

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/request.html

• Correction to the I-94

Consular Updates

• China

• India