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What Does a Visa Expiration Date Mean?
Your visa should have both an issuance date and an expiration date. The time between these dates is called your visa validity. This is the length of time that you are legally permitted to travel within and to a port of entry in the United States of America. Depending on your nation of origin, visas may be issued by the United States government as either a single entry or multiple or unlimited entries.
On your admission stamp, there should be admitted until the date or D/S (duration of status). If your admission stamp or form I-94 contains a specific expiration date, that is the day you must leave the country.
What if You Wish to Extend Your Stay in the United States?
If you wish to extend your stay in the US, you must apply to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before your authorized stay expires. Immigration attorneys recommend that you apply for an extension of stay well in advance of your expiration date.
But what if you overstay the permitted amount of time you are allowed to remain in the United States?
How Does US Immigration Know if You’ve Overstayed Your Visa?
The United States government has several tracking tools and methods for keeping track of visa overstays.
These include:
- Biometric programs
- Electronic tracking of exits via airline manifests
- Entry and exit records that match
- Facial recognition systems
- I-94 arrival or departure record
- And other advanced systems and databases
What Are the Potential Consequences of a Visa Overstay?
If your legal stay has expired and you remain in the United States, you will lose your lawful status and begin to build what is known as an ‘unlawful presence.’
The potential consequences of overstaying a visa in the United States of America include the following:
- Bans from re-entering the United States for a certain period of time. You may be barred from entering the US for up to three years if you remained in the country unlawfully for more than 180 days but less than one year. You could receive a 10-year bar from re-entry into the US if you remained in the country for longer than a year. A permanent ban may be enforced if you have accumulated more than one year of unlawful presence and attempt to reenter the US
- Criminal charges
- Delays, denials, and other unwanted outcomes for subsequent immigration applications
- Deportation or removal from the US
- Difficulty adjusting status, such as obtaining a green card
- Financial penalties
- Loss of benefits, including employment authorization, driver’s license, and access to public benefits
- Negative influence on your chances of obtaining future visas or immigration benefits like green cards or citizenship
- Travel restrictions
- Visa voidance
Is it Possible for a Visa Overstay to Be Forgiven?
A nonimmigrant visitor to the US may apply for an adjustment of status to change their legal status to that of a lawful permanent resident (green card holder). Generally, adjustment of status is available to foreign nationals with lawful entry and a current immigrant visa. Most foreign-born individuals are barred from adjustments of status if they are unlawfully within the United States at the time of their application. However, a provision in the law exempts immediate relatives of U.S. citizens from visa overstays. There is a certain level of visa overstay forgiveness for spouses, parents, and unmarried children under age 21 of United States citizens.
An immediate relative must have entered the United States legally to be eligible for an adjustment of status. This entrance into the country may include visas, even if that visa in question has since expired. However, individuals who have entered the country illegally are not eligible for an adjustment of status.
Can You Apply for a Green Card After a Visa Overstay?
Yes, you may apply for a green card if you have overstayed your visa, but only if you meet certain criteria. If you’re an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, you may be eligible to apply for a green card by filing form I-485, even if your visa has expired.
If you are the immediate relative of a green card holder, you must apply for your green card from your home country. If you are subject to a re-entry ban, you must wait out the ban before you can return to the United States of America. However, you may request a waiver of inadmissibility to pardon your unlawful presence.
What is Unlawful Presence?
If you have been in the United States past your authorized stay date, you have begun to build up an unlawful presence in the country. Unlawful presence relates to the amount of time you spend in the USA without a legal immigration status. Your unlawful presence will begin the day after your authorized period of stay has expired.
The exception to this rule is that those who enter the USA under the visa waiver program will see their unlawful presence begin to accrue 90 days after their first day in the country. Additionally, if you come to the US on a nonimmigrant visa, your unlawful presence begins 180 days after the date on your I-94 record.
When Might You Be Considered Inadmissible?
If you have been in the US unlawfully for more than 180 days but less than a year on a single stay, you will typically be found inadmissible unless certain exceptions apply. Similarly, if you have been in the US unlawfully for a year or more during a single stay, you will usually be found inadmissible if you attempt to return to the United States within a decade.
You may be permanently barred from entering the country if you attempt to re-enter the United States without being paroled or pardoned after a year or more of unlawful presence.
What Are Waivers of Inadmissibility?
Form I-601 is an application for waiver of grounds of inadmissibility. This legal document is a request you can make to the United States government to pardon the reentry ban that you are facing due to your accrual of unlawful presence time.
To apply for the waiver of inadmissibility, you must prove to the USCIS that your green card or U.S. citizen relative will experience extreme and unusual hardship if you have to wait out your ban from re-entry into the United States.
Contact Our Law Firm to Request a Free Consultation with an Experienced Immigration Attorney Today
If you have overstayed your visa, we strongly recommend you retain professional legal counsel from an experienced immigration lawyer. Our legal team has years of experience providing knowledgeable legal representation to clients with complex immigration issues, including visa overstays. To learn more about how we can assist you during this difficult ordeal, please contact our law firm to schedule your initial consultation today.
You may reach us at 857-347-3701.
