9 month B2 visa??

[sybroy]

Hi there,

I understand one can apply for a 6 month B2 tourist visa with the possibility of extending it another 6 months. I have just returned home to(London,uk) from spending the year in Canada on a working holiday visa where I visited the States a couple of times to travel. The last place in the States I visited was Alaska which I found breathtakingly beautiful and left me wanting to return to experience the winter there. I met some people who said I can go and stay with for a month and show me the ultimate dog-mushing Northern lights experience.

I recently inherited a small fortune from my deceased grandfather and my next dream is, by using the money to fund my trip, to fly out to Fairbanks, AK in December for the month and then at the end of January take the boat from Haines to Bellingham and stay with my friends in Seattle. From there I plan to buy a bicycle and supplies and cycle across America...(I am a very outdoor' physically fit person) And all in all my whole trip planned from AK to Florida (where my uncle lives) would take around 9 months. My question is, if I told these plans to the interviewer at the US embassy in London and then border control (asking for a B2 visa with extension of 3 months(on top of the usual 6 they grant)), would they give it to me? Or should I just ask for 6 months and then later apply for an extension of 3 months?

I have lived in the UK all my life. My family live here, I am English with a British passport I have strong ties to my home country with $30,000 to support my trip. I'm just worried they won't grant me the visa. Or if they decide to deny me, what would be their reasons? I mean I would be using the B2 visa for exactly what it says its for- tourism, but ideally I want 9 months...

Thank you to everybody who has taken the time to read this. Take care.

Sybil

[peace999]

they must go by the law. And US law does not provide for an initial 9 month stay as a visitor.
Max stay is 6 mnths initially.
However, like you mentioned, you can apply for an extension once inside US.
(also, the embassy and the visa they will give you, do not decide how long you can stay in US.
That is decided by the officers at the airport. However, the embassy can deny you the visa based upon the length of your intended stay
eg, 9 months.)


Points of caution;
1.B1/B2 decisions involve a high level of officer discretion. So, no guarantees there. If you are denied, you
won't be able to use your visa waiver privilege either.
They look for 3 things; strong ties to home country ,a real purpose to visit US, and sufficient funds. Your purpose is fine , you say you have family ties
and if you can show a stable job/business with good income in UK , they won't have a reason to deny you the visa.


2.Applying for an extension; if you get the visa , do it early into your stay. Like 2 mo nths after you enter. The reason is
they take 2-3 months processing it and if you apply late , the response will come after your initial stay has expired.
That will make you "out of status" which you do not want.

Conclusion; if you do not want to take the risk of a visitor visa denial, split your trip into 2 or 3 , 90 day (visa waiver)
stays spread a few months apart.