"WT" No Visa When Visiting, Extending Stay Options

tostirma123

New Member
Hello, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum section. I have a couple of questions I need help with. Our current situation is this,

I'm trying to help my Aunt's sister who is currently visiting San Francisco from Taiwan because my Aunt's husband recently fell ill and has been in the hospital indefinitely. She came to to help, and offer any support while he is ill. She came directly from Taiwan and did not get a Visa in Taiwan, she went to Customs in the San Francisco airport and they stamped her passport with a "WT" which I think means she is a tourist? It says she is allowed to stay here for 90 days. They want to extend her visit another 90 days, but while I was trying to help her fill out the I-539 form I noticed it said you may not extend your stay if your here on a Visa waiver. Does this mean we can not extend her stay?

The second question is, some people have told her that if she wants to stay longer she can leave the US and go to Mexico or Canada for a day and then re-enter the US and they will give her another 90 days. Is this true? How does this work? When I asked a friend about this he said she would have to go to a Canada Consulate/Embassy in San Francisco and get a Visa first then go to Canada, then re-enter San Francisco. But he also said it would be up the the customs agent at that time to allow her back in or not so it isn't guaranteed.

Sorry for the long post, thank you for any help!
 
As a WAIVER TOURIST (WT), she cannot extend her stay. A trip to Canada or Mexico will NOT work either. She'd have to leave North America, but even then, it isn't guaranteed that she'd get 90 days, or even ANY days, when she tries to re-enter the US immediately. Legally, she is supposed to stay out more than 90 days.

I think her only option would be to go back to Taiwan, get a visitor visa and explain why (medical emergency of a relative), and come back.
 
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