Tourist visa expired, want to renew

T

taro

New Member
Friend in US, Japanese, entered on tourist visa 1 year ago. Living in midwest. He just loves American culture. He is late 20s. Jazz is his love.

Wants to stay indefinitely. Visa already expired. Also Passport will expire soon-in a few weeks.

He works unofficially at restaurant.

Japanese consulate stupidly (I think) told him NOT to go back to Japan for new passport but apply for it in the US. But I think this is wrong. Even if he gets the new passport, his visa status is illegal.

I wonder, my suggestion is better-->

1) Leave the US---> but he is alreday a year. Will they let him leave???
2) Get a new passport in Japan (not in Chicago, as his status is still not legal).
3) Apply for new visa (tourist, student, green card lottery????)--will he be able to do any or all of these. I know he will have to be a student for student. I doubt they are still offering lottery for 30 year old with no job or fiancee. I assume he must have a legitimate fiancee to be able to get a marriage visa, but hear even here it is not guaranteed.

4) I imagine his BEST hope is the tourist visa and then should he decide to study and or get married, he would have to reapply at that time.

But how often can a person enter on a tourist visa?


Any help you can offer would be appreciated.
 
Having been here for a year illegally, he is not eligible for any status. He is now barred from re-entering or adjusting his status to some other status for 10 years. So it doesn't matter that his passport and visa are expired. He can't leave the country if he wants to come back anyway. The only exception is if he gets married to a US citizen. Even that will be difficult though.
 
nscagony said:
Having been here for a year illegally, he is not eligible for any status. He is now barred from re-entering or adjusting his status to some other status for 10 years. So it doesn't matter that his passport and visa are expired. He can't leave the country if he wants to come back anyway. The only exception is if he gets married to a US citizen. Even that will be difficult though.
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Ok, so legally he cannot re-enter. But what if he leaves without them detecting that he was here illegally. Unlike in Japan, where they check you officially on exiting and entering, I recall the US was only on entering. So in that case, if he leaves, and then wants to come back later as a tourist, could he not as long as he wasn't detected on exiting.

(Not condoning that he was there illegally. But he is just like that. Worked in the EU for 7 years legally because he had a speciality and hates living in Japan. Prefers US. So just wondering if a person manages not to get deported---like him--he has decided to leave on his own I think . would he be able to become a short term visitor so long as he left without being deported?)

thanks


--->
PS

I am not clear on this sentence--->

"He can't leave the country if he wants to come back anyway"

Means he cannot leave the US now (jail)? sound possible, though someone else here said he would be deported and not have a problem leaving.
Or that he cannot leave Japan?---> sounds odd.
Or that he cannot enter the US?--> sounds plausible.
 
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He can't no longer enter under visa-waiver program since he overstayed his visa. He can try to lie at the border, but thats immigration fraud. If you are asking whether there is a chance he can defraud the authorities and sneak his way into the country? Probably yes. Would I recommend it? No. Best case he is sent back the same day. Worst case he is going to sit in some detention center for a while until his home government picks him up.
 
nscagony said:
He can't no longer enter under visa-waiver program since he overstayed his visa. He can try to lie at the border, but thats immigration fraud. If you are asking whether there is a chance he can defraud the authorities and sneak his way into the country? Probably yes. Would I recommend it? No. Best case he is sent back the same day. Worst case he is going to sit in some detention center for a while until his home government picks him up.
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Thank you. Yes, post 9-11 I guess it is harder. I had a friend who was a Japanese communist who was admitted to the US every year for years and years despite having had to sign (at that time) a declaration that he was not a communist.

BTW, I note you mention visa waiver program. I wonder how he would fare if he tried to go through the visa apply route rather than the visa waiver program. Probably still have to declare. And if so, at least he would know BEFORE he went if he was going to be rejected.

BTW II: I had a student who was a legitimate student about 10 years ago and STILL had her visa request rejected. They claimed they did not believe she wasreally a student despite having been accepted by the university there. A call to the embassy complaining by a few of us worked wonders.It turns out an overzealous US embassy person in Japan was doing that to a lot of people then.

But in this case, not much I can do since he clearly is just there because he likes the US and has no other overriding factors.

thanks for your advice.
 
taro said:
BTW, I note you mention visa waiver program. I wonder how he would fare if he tried to go through the visa apply route rather than the visa waiver program. Probably still have to declare. And if so, at least he would know BEFORE he went if he was going to be rejected.
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He would still need to support his visa request (why do you want a visa and how will you support yourself while in the US). All this is based on the assumption he is able to leave without being detected (again - fraud). If he leaves legitimately he will be slapped with a 3 or 10 yr ban, guaranteed. Also, a having a valid visa does not in any way guarantee you will be admitted to the US. If immigration still has an open departure date for his I-94W number this might be a red flag and reason to investigate further. If that happens, you can be guaranteed they will find out what the deal is.

BTW II: I had a student who was a legitimate student about 10 years ago and STILL had her visa request rejected. They claimed they did not believe she wasreally a student despite having been accepted by the university there. A call to the embassy complaining by a few of us worked wonders.It turns out an overzealous US embassy person in Japan was doing that to a lot of people then.
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Visa approval is the decision of the interviewing consular officer. I am certain they have internal standards as to how many applications typically get rejected at a particular consulate. If some officer is an outlier with their number of rejections, I'm sure they will correct him/her. In that case you just have bad luck, and yes, a call from authoritative people (university officials for example) will help those cases usually.
 
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