United States B-1/B-2 Visitor Visa

Key parameters
Limit	6 months
Period / Window	Per visit
Counting	Any part of a day
Additional requirements	Nonimmigrant intent, no work

The visa covers short temporary visits by anyone who isn't a US citizen or permanent resident, whatever their nationality. Travelers eligible for visa-free entry can still apply for one, and often do when they need longer than the visa-free 90 days.

B-1 and B-2 are technically two separate categories, but they're normally granted together as a single B-1/B-2 visa covering both purposes:

• B-1 (business) — meetings, conferences, negotiations, contract work for a foreign employer, settling an estate.
• B-2 (tourism) — holidays, visiting family and friends, medical treatment, social events.

Which one you're traveling under is decided at the border, not in your passport — you state your purpose on arrival, and the officer sets the admission period to match it. Neither permits working for a US employer, studying toward a degree, or staying on to settle.

Beyond purpose, three separate things get confused with each other, and keeping them apart is most of what this rule requires:

• Visa validity — how long the visa lets you travel to a port of entry and ask to be admitted. Often up to 10 years, depending on your nationality's reciprocity arrangement.
• The admission period — how long you may actually remain, decided by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the border and recorded on your I-94.
• Number of entries — most B-1/B-2 visas are multiple-entry, so the visa can be reused until it expires.

A valid visa in your passport therefore guarantees nothing about how long you can stay on any given trip, and it isn't a guarantee of entry either — admission is always the officer's decision.

The route also requires nonimmigrant intent: you have to satisfy the officer that you intend to leave, and that your ties abroad — a job, a home, family — are strong enough to draw you back.

• A ten-year visa is not ten years of stay. This is the error that produces most accidental overstays. The visa is a travel document — the I-94 is the permission to remain.
• Overstaying voids the visa automatically. A visa held by someone who stays beyond their admission period becomes void, and a future application generally has to be made in your home country rather than anywhere convenient.
• Extensions have to be filed before the I-94 expires. Each grant adds up to 6 further months, but approval is discretionary rather than automatic, filing late is generally fatal to the application, and leaving the country while it's pending normally ends it.
• Border-hopping to reset the clock is well recognised. Frequent short exits followed by immediate re-entry is a known pattern, and it tends to attract shorter admissions or a refusal rather than a fresh six months.
• Acting like an immigrant in your first 90 days raises a presumption of deception. Starting work, enrolling in a course, or marrying and settling in that soon is taken to mean you misled the officer about why you came.
• Some nationalities are barred or restricted regardless of visa. Presidential entry restrictions currently suspend B-1/B-2 entry for nationals of a list of countries, and that list has been revised more than once.

Unlawful presence accrues from the day after your I-94 expires, and the bars that follow are automatic rather than discretionary. More than 180 days triggers a 3-year bar on returning, and a year or more triggers a 10-year bar, both biting once you leave. Your visa is void from the moment of the overstay too, so the next application has to be made from your country of nationality. Professional advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

A visa that outlives the stay

You hold a 10-year B-1/B-2 and are admitted in March with an I-94 running to September. Your visa remains valid for years, but September is your deadline — staying into October starts unlawful presence even though the visa is nowhere near expiring.

A short hop that doesn't reset the count

You're admitted for 6 months, spend five of them in the US, then take a four-day trip to Mexico expecting a new six months on return. You're readmitted for the remainder of your original period instead, leaving you weeks rather than months.

An extension filed too late

You decide in month six to stay longer and file for an extension a week after your I-94 expires. Because the application wasn't filed while you still held status, it's very likely to be denied, and unlawful presence has already begun accruing.

• US Department of State — Visitor visas (B-1/B-2)
• US Customs and Border Protection — I-94 official website
• USCIS — Extend your stay