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I have a foriegn exchange student here from Columbia. He has a J1 visa that expires June 18, 2004. He also has a B1/B2 visa that expires June 5, 2007. He wants to know if he can stay a few weeks longer past the expiration date of his student visa to visit family in the USA and travel back on his B1/B2 visa? Any help would be great.
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It gets complicated.
A "consular visa" is only a *recommendation* from the Department of State (DOS) that you be admitted to the US for the stated reason. It only gives you permission to *try* to enter the US. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the final say on whether you are actually admitted or not.
But you don't get the DHS's decision until it's agent, the US border inspector who meets you at the point of entry to the US, makes his decision as to whether you actually *will* be admitted. The I-94 stapled into your passport on admission is essentially your "DHS visa" that grans you legal "status" to be in the US for the stated length of time.
A person can have many DOS visas, but they always have only one DHS visa at a time. As soon as his I-94 "visa" expires, he is "out of status" (i.e. he is "illegal") even if he has another valid consular visa in his passport.
To change or extend the DHS visa, I believe he needs to file I-539 /show-form/i-539 . You should doublecheck that though. In addition to waiting for other replies here ...
Good luck,
Joe
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Caveat Reador: I am just another CIS supplicant and immigration amateur. You're on your own. My advice may be worth even less than what I charge for it, so verify it with other sources to your own satisfaction before acting on it.
"You can't argue with belief." -- Unknown
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