Live in US lawfully without a visa? How 6 months caculated?

[Morsica]

How about a Canadian visitor spending the second half of the year plus the first half of the following year in US? Is it still considered an overstay? If the answer is "yes", why is so?
Thank you!

[Dremani]

How about a Canadian visitor spending the second half of the year plus the first half of the following year in US? Is it still considered an overstay? If the answer is "yes", why is so?
Thank you!

This will be considering overlapping your initial 6 month stay which would then result in an overstay. In other words you would be staying for one year rather than 6 months.

[agnelson]

At the border you can request, and can be granted entry for six months. It doesn;t matter which day of the year this entry falls upon.That is the maximum you and the POE can negociate.

Now, Once in US, you could apply to extend it, but barring this, you ae expected to leave when you and the ooficier aggreed you would leave. Agin this has nothing to do with calenadr dates.

Each entry restarts the procsess.

[Steven]

How about a Canadian visitor spending the second half of the year plus the first half of the following year in US? Is it still considered an overstay? If the answer is "yes", why is so?

Like the caselaw quoted further back in the thread says, it's all about your intent. As a Canadian visitor you don't receive an I-94, so there is no fixed day on which you must leave (unless CBP impose one, they do sometimes if they get suspicious).

So it comes down to "duration of stay". If the duration of your stay is such that it appears that you have immigrant intent (as determined by an immigration judge) then you have violated visitor status and can be removed from the US.

In reality what generally happens is you stay in the US for x amount of time, where "x" is a pretty long period of time, you leave for whatever reason and CBP won't let you back in again because they don't believe you're a visitor.

Because visitors with B visas from other countries are limited to six months, CBP use that as a general rule of thumb with Canadians as well.

[paperesolution]

There seems to be a bit of conflicting information. I've read it's 6 months per calendar year. i.e. if you've stayed 180 days and then come back in January. Is it still just mostly up to the CBP officer/intent?

[MC]

Nelson is correct; each new entry restarts the process. The amount of time allowed by the CBP Officer is purely discretionary and can be granted for a maximum of 6 months at a time or less depending on the officer. You are required to show explicit ties to Canada for a B-2 and thus immigrant intent is really never displayed for this kind of entry since it is understood the beneficiary is returning again to Canada.

[paperesolution]

so it's 6 months per visit not per 12 months or per calendar year? does anyone know this for an absolute fact? I understand that it is still up to the CBP officer to deny me at any time for any reason but I want to make sure that if I exit in December after my 180 days whether I can return before Jan 1st (or even after Jan 1st if it's per calendar year).

[agnelson]

It's six months per visit, unless the CBP officer informs you otherwise, and issues you an I-94 with a shorter date.

But, for undocumented (no I-94 issued) entry into US on B-2 status, you can stay for 6 months from date of entry.

Cdns get confused on this because of the way Provinces calculate healthcare eligibility, which is 183 days in province in any rolling 365-day period (152 for ontario). Most snowbirds adhere religiously to this 'rule' -- never staying outside canada for more than 183 days a year, and thus many people thing that it is one imposed by CBP, but its actually the provincial helthcare driving this.