I'm confused

Hi there. First time posting, long time reading. My opposition lives in California and I am in Ontario. I visited him in Sept/08 to Dec/08 for 3 months and then came home for the holidays to visit with my family and to work again. I plan to visit him again in June and this is my question: Am I limited to 3 months since I visited him last year? OR Can I stay for 6 months since it's a new visit and a new "calendar year"? I am speaking without a visa - so legally staying in the United States without a visa. I know there may have already been a post regarding this question but I don't have the time nor the patience to skim through years worth of threads and posts! Please let me know if any of you have had personal experience to back up your knowledge. Yes I understand experience varies per person. I appreciate your time and haste. Thanks!

It's a maximum stay of 6 months in any 12 month period.

So what your reply says is that the maximum stay time is 6 months per 1 year, so that means if I visit for 2 months, and then half a year later want to visit for 4 months that I can? But only with the total time allowance of 6 months correct?

What my initial thought was that I can only stay for 3 months at this time because I already visited for 3 months prior to the current time, totalling 6 months. So you confirm this?

You started fresh on January 1, so you have 6 months allowed for this calendar year.

Canadians are admited to the US as visitors with an implied B2 visa. If you cross by land, it will not be stamped in you passport. The visa is good for six months. However, if you tell the immigration officer that you expect to stay for six months in the US, they will probably make it very hard for you to enter the US. Having said that, once you are in the US, you can extend your B2 visa for up to another 6 months. To do that you will have to apply for the extension prior to your original 6 months ending.

If you do extend your B2, you may be subjected to some more scrutiny at the border the next time you cross, depending on which border officer you get at the border. Also, if you leave while on the extension, you may not be able to come back.

As a Canadian, you are not subjected to a lot of scrutiny when you enter by land. They really do not know when you left. If you ask for an extension to your B2, then you will be in the system, which may not be all that good a thing.

If you may marry your "opposition", then you can do that there and ask for an Adjustment of Status, leading to permanent US residency (Green Card) after you marry him there. Just be sure you marry him after three months of entering the US, or they will claim that you entered the US as a B2 visitor under false pretexts. Do not even send out invitations to your wedding or anything else that will make an officer believe you had an intention to marry prior to your being there for three months. Also make sure you get the date you entered stamped, not by asking for it, but by flying into the US from a Canadian airport. If you tell the border officer that you intend to marry a US Citizen while entering as a visitor, he will most likely not let you in and place you on a blacklist.

Canadians are very rarely granted extensions of stay however, unless there is some sort of emergency that prohibits you from leaving. Like you've been in a horrible car crash and you're in a coma in hospital.

Do you have a job in Canada that you will be returning to? How is it that you can take 6 months off to visit the US? How will you be supporting yourself during this time? Do you have cash money in your pocket? What proof do you have that you will be returning to Canada after your visit? Do you own a home in Canada, do you have children in Canada, or anything at all that binds you to Canada?

All questions that will be asked of you at the border when you tell them you'll be staying to visit your US citizen other half. If you have no job, no property, and nothing to bind you to Canada, the chances of being denied entry are great unfortunately.

Having said that, once you are in the US, you can extend your B2 visa for up to another 6 months. To do that you will have to apply for the extension prior to your original 6 months ending.

In certain situations. If he's in a non-immigrant classification in the US then she can use the "co-habiting" provision and renew every six months indefinitely although this will get expensive as it costs $320 to file an I-539.