urgent help! Regarding Visa Extension

[ras574]

My parents came to this country for the 2nd time this year during July in Tourist Visa. They were granted 3 months visa only. We applied for the extension on 1 st week of Sept. We haven't heard back from UCIS till now. On UCIS.gov website the status still shows as "Initial review". My parents got visa till Oct 18th. We are really worried and confused. My parents should leave the country on or before 18th October or can they wait here till they know their visa is been rejected or accepted. Please reply asap.

Thanks


P.S. I am planning to apply for Citizenship next year and will this extension or making them stay till the extension comes will affect my citizenship process in any way?
Actually it is a medical emergency that is why we applied for extension and we couldn't mention the medical emergency to the UCIS. They are not here for visiting places. please let me know asap. Thanks

[txh1b]

You can have them stay while the visa extension of stay is pending. However, note that their 10 yr multiple entry visa is void as per the law if the extension is denied and the I-94 expires before they leave.

[smohanty]

What is the reason for the extension?

Is it simply because they were given a 3 month stay? Or is there an emergency?

For all practical purposes, a 3 month stay is quite sufficient for a visit when one is on a tourist/visiting visa, right?

You have to understand that most people are granted a 6 month stay at the POE. So if your parents have gotten a 3 month stay it is probably because their second visit very closely follows their first visit and they haven't spent much time in their home country since their first visit. The 3 month stay implies that their intent to return is in some doubt to the immigration officer

In such cases applying for an extension in the absence of some sort of medical emergency is proving the immigration officer right. Your parents case is bound to scrutinized longer than usual and the chances of rejection are bound to be more.

Whether they are rejected or not that, if you keep trying to keep them here longer there is a chance that the next time they visit they might be granted a one month's stay or less.

So if there is no emergency, try to be satisfied with a 3 month stay. Have them leave before October 18th. And if their two US visits have closely followed each other (within a year of each other) then do not have them back for at least 2-3 years.

Remember that if their visa is revoked due to rejection or frequent visits it will be very difficult for them to go to the consulate the next time and prove their ties to India and intent to return in order to get another visa.

So do not make it seem like they are exploiting a tourist visa to live in US as long as possible.

[ras574]

I am the original thread poster

We just spoke with UCIS.

Here is the update:

My parents can stay in the country as long as they get the result of the application. If they get accepted, then they can stay till the new visa stamped date. If they get rejected they have 2 days to leave the country. We are planning to apply for citizenship for ourself, and we enquired about this extension and how much this will affect our citizenship process. The UCIS representative said over the phone that our process wont affect in anyway. Everywhere it stated that it usually takes 3 - 4 weeks to process the application for extension, but in the UCIS website the processing time stated is 2 months for northeast and pretty much same for the rest of the centers, hope the information helps.

[txh1b]

You spoke to a call center rep and they are not legal professionals.