Atlanta sources stated that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many Indian-Americans with visiting family members, were rushing to extend their B1/B2 visas, which only allows a maximum stay for six months.While for those whose parents have just arrived, it may be a matter of only cancelling the existing tickets, there were many whose parents’ visa limits of a six-month stay was expiring, the American Bazaar said in a report on Monday.
A US B1/B2 is a tourist, temporary, non-immigrant visa that allows the visa holder to visit the US for work or tourism purposes. The USCIS can extend the stay based on genuine and urgent conditions. Given the coronavirus crisis in the US and across the globe, most attorneys believe that extension of a visa should not be a problem, the report added.
Ideally B1/B2 extensions should be filed 45 days in advance but in the given dire scenario immigration authorities are willing to help visitors. Perhaps their return tickets were booked for later this month, but looking at the scenario it’s (impossible) to send my aging parents on a flight, where they are more likely to catch infection than being at home.
