Landing on US - Canada border

[ramammad]

I am in the US and plan to do my landing in a few weeks. My US visa is expired though, so if I cross the border I will have to go to the US embassy and renew it.

Does anyone know, if I do landing on the US-Canada border and then turn back and return to US, does it mean I crossed the border and still need a new US visa?

Thanks everyone!

 

[ashwin027]

Do you have valid status to return back to the US? If you have a valid status (I94) then there are a few options.

If you are going to spend more than 30 days in Canada before returning to the US, then you have to surrender the I94 at the border, get your visa stamping in Canada and then return to the US. There is no way around this.

If you are going to spend less than 30 days in Canada then you don't have to surrender your I94 at the border (Automatic re-validation). There are however 3 conditions that you need to satisfy,

1. You must have been in Canada for 30 days or less and only in Canada.
2. You must have a valid, unexpired admission stamp or a current I-94 form or card stating your approved status.
3. You cannot be from countries on the U.S. state-sponsored terrorist list.

If you fulfill these conditions, then will let you enter the US without requiring a visa stamp. You can find more info on this here,

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/automatic-revalidation.html

 

[ramammad]

Do you have valid status to return back to the US? If you have a valid status (I94) then there are a few options.

If you are going to spend more than 30 days in Canada before returning to the US, then you have to surrender the I94 at the border, get your visa stamping in Canada and then return to the US. There is no way around this.

If you are going to spend less than 30 days in Canada then you don't have to surrender your I94 at the border (Automatic re-validation). There are however 3 conditions that you need to satisfy,

1. You must have been in Canada for 30 days or less and only in Canada.
2. You must have a valid, unexpired admission stamp or a current I-94 form or card stating your approved status.
3. You cannot be from countries on the U.S. state-sponsored terrorist list.

If you fulfill these conditions, then will let you enter the US without requiring a visa stamp. You can find more info on this here,

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/automatic-revalidation.html

Thank you very much for detailed response.

So, if I got it right, since I am only gonna be in Canada for a few days and I am legally in the US as a student (student status is valid for another year) I will not need to obtain a new entry visa?

 

[bellaluna]

Thank you very much for detailed response.

So, if I got it right, since I am only gonna be in Canada for a few days and I am legally in the US as a student (student status is valid for another year) I will not need to obtain a new entry visa?

Yes, as long as your I-94 remains valid, and per the conditions ashwin provided above.

If you have an electronic I-94, you can look it up here:
https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/

 

[ramammad]

Great. Thank you guys!