visitor visa -duration of stay in the U.S.

[anju.sen]

My mother got a visitor visa for a year from the kolkata consulate. I want know for how many months can she stay in the U.S? I want to book her return ticket accordingly.Is there a criteria that she can stay upto 6 mths?what is I-94? When does she get it? does the duration of her stay depend on I-94 or the visa she got?

[antonykose]

My mother got a visitor visa for a year from the kolkata consulate. I want know for how many months can she stay in the U.S? I want to book her return ticket accordingly.Is there a criteria that she can stay upto 6 mths?what is I-94? When does she get it? does the duration of her stay depend on I-94 or the visa she got?

Your mother can enter US before the expiry of the Visitor visa that she got.
I-94 is given at the Port of entry to US which will determine her period of stay in US. No one can predict that she will be granted 6 months stay in US.
It all depends on the officer at Port of Entry. So better to keep her return ticket as open.

All the best
Rgds,
ant

[anju.sen]

Thanks that was helpful. I have one more question - does the I-94 depend on the duration of stay mentioned in DS-156 or is it completely the discretion of the immigration officer?

[delhiramanathan]

I94 is a form (arrival/departure record)given in the flight before landing at POE or Port Of Entry. To fill it, your mother needs your address and contact no where she will be staying. After landing, she will have to stand in non immigrant queue and the IO( immigration Officer) will ask few questions like why she has come to USA, with whom will she stay in USA and how long will she stay in USA etc. After satisfactory reply received from your mother, he will stamp a date in I 94 form which indicates that she can stay in USA. Normally, a first time visitor will get 6 months stay.
I will recomand that she leaves USA atleast 10 days before the expiry of I94 date.Since she got only one year visitor visa, this will help her to get a fresh visitor visa once the present one lapsed as she had returned to home town before the expiry of I 94 date. Please make sure that she leaves the I 94 form with the airlines people at the time of departure to her home land.