Hi, need some advice re: length of stay.

ghanst

Registered Users (C)
Hi guys,

Thank God there's a forum like this for these concerns. I've been quite confused lately. Here's my situation and questions:

I'm planning on visiting the US for vacation in October and stay on and celebrate Christmas and New Year's there with my friends living in the US. My itinerary is spread over roughly 3-4 months and includes San Francisco (point of entry), Los Angeles, and New York.

Situation: I want to ensure a 6 months length of stay or at least enough time to cover my travel plans of 4 months.
Question:If i state to the immigration officer at POE that i plan to stay that long, could it come across as questionable? Esp. if they ask why my work allows such a long holiday (btw, occupation is writer/stylist so its pretty flexible in work hours/time/schedule). Or am i over thinking?

Situation: I originally dated my inbound & outbound flights for 4 months as planned, but i didn't want it to come across as "presumptuous" to the immigration officer at POE that i "expected" a stamping of that long a length of stay so i changed my ticket to only 1 month (to be changed back to 4 months afterwards once in the US) so that i'd have less explaining to do as to why i'm staying so long for vacation.
Question: Now i'm worried that since my ticket is 1 month only, i could get a lesser length of stay than i hoped. (All my friends who have traveled to the US in the past year have been given 6 months length of stay even if they were just staying in the US for just 2 weeks to a month. But recently a friend went to NY for holiday for 6 days and she was only given 2 weeks). Are my worries justified? Should i revert back to my 4 month ticket or stick to my new 1 month ticket plan?

Also, do i need to have made travel plans already within the US at the time of POE? Was thinking of making travel arrangements there. Also, do i need to give addresses in all cities or just the point of entry?


Really hope for your replies and advice. Would greatly appreciate it.

Thank You! :)
 
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