Return B1 stamp

I have a B1 visa and last week i was in US. Now i got this small form which says its valid for 6 month. I believe at the end of the 6 mths i have to go to US border and surrender this form and get a new one.

Someone told me that on my way back to Canada i had to get my passport stamped form the US authorities as well, is this true?

Never heard of that. It seems like you got an I94 Entry/Departure Card.

You will need to surrender it to either US or Canadian Authorities but I never hard about that passport stamp

I assume you're not a Canadian citizen, as Canadians do not need a visa to enter, they automatically are classified as B-1/2 for visitors. The B-1 category is valid for six months, i.e. 183 days in a calendar year. At the end of six months you have to leave the US and you cannot re-enter until the next calendar year.

Sounds to me as though you did not surrender your I-94 when you left the US, the CBSA official should have taken it off you at the border. You have to mail it to the processing centre in Kentucky (I think) if you fail to turn it in, although you might find it's faster just to go back to the border and give it to a CBSA agent.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_vi ... record.xml

If you don't turn it in, you'll have a load of hassle next time you try and enter the US.

Your passport was stamped at the POE, you do not need to get it stamped on the way out.

Hi,

Would you be able to shed any light on this specific situation?

It's my understanding that a B1 visa allows me, under NAFTA and as a Canadian sole proprietor, to make prospecting sales calls in the U.S. on behalf of my small Canadian website-design company (as long as I don't produce a product or service for any U.S. clients while I'm in the U.S. or get paid by a U.S. client while I'm there).

My questions are:

1) If I wish to be in the U.S. for a 4-month period during the Canadian winter and plan to make numerous sales calls there on behalf of my company during that period (under a B-1 visa), what would be the best way to explain my circumstances/intentions at the U.S. port of entry? That is, do I require a formal B-1 visa in order to conduct such extended sales calls or is the presumption that, as a Canadian, I am entitled to conduct such sales work during any visit to the U.S. and must simply conform to the bounds of that B-1 visa's conditions (i.e., no actual work done or remuneration received while in the U.S.).and that I could simply thus enter as a "snowbird" and be permitted to conduct my sales calls within B-1 rules?

2) Would you agree with the two, informal/preliminary responses which I received from attorneys, who both suggested that the following would be quite legal with regard to my B-1 conformity:

I could travel from Canada to, say, Dallas, TX, to make a sales call on a Monday, secure a new client's commitment to purchase a website-design project on that same day, then enter Mexico on Tuesday, create the website product on Wednesday while still on Mexican soil.and then either e-mail the finished product from Mexico to the U.S. client or, to be extra cautious, e-mail the finished product to my Canadian office, which would then both e-mail and ground-ship the finished product to the customer on Friday (they didn't seem to think that my hand-delivering the product to the U.S. client, upon my return from Mexico, was a good idea).

That is, I'll have produced nothing in the U.S., have been paid nothing in the U.S., and would leave all billing to my Canadian office. Is it thus reasonable to assume that neither the American nor Mexican visa authorities or income-taxation agencies would have any concern about such activities?

3) Do U.S. length-of-stay restrictions affect my above duration preference? That is, is there any related obstacle to my above situation where I may wish to be in the U.S. for approximately 4 months winter months annually (Nov.-Mar.), conducting sales calls there during that extended period, and then returning to Canda but planning to return to the U.S. the following November to do it all over again?

4) Would you elaborate on the circumstances when Canadians returning from, say, a six-month stay in the U.S. must wait, upon their return to Canada, until the following calendar year to return to the U.S.? I'm thinking of the many Canadian snowbirds who stay in the U.S. for the six months from Nov.-May, then return to Canada for a few months and then return to the U.S. the very next November (i.e., the same calendar year of their return from the U.S.).

5) Finally, it's perhaps worth noting that I will be conducting much of my sales-call activity in the southern U.S. near Mexico.and would thus have ready access to a port of entry to that country if, in order to conform to the U.S.'s B-1 visa conditions, I needed to perform all aspects of my intended product creation outside of the U.S. or needed to leave the U.S. briefly in order to violate visa conditions (no idea if that's relevant; just pointing it out).

I know that's a lot of questions; thanks so much for any insight or guidance you may be able to provide.it's very much appreciated.

Sincerely,
Jon

You can also file with CIS to extend your B-1 status without departing the U.S.

Two points, a B-1 entry for a Canadian is not a visa, you just tell them at the POE you're entering to conduct business meetings. Have some proof you're going to leave and it's all legit as they can get their knickers in a twist.

Second of all, it's valid for 183 days in each calendar year, i.e. six months. Doesn't matter which 183 days. If you enter in November and leave in March you will never hit the limit. A "day" is any portion of a day; if you're in the US for an hour in a day, that's a day.

Doesn't matter where you enter from, Mexico or anywhere else, you're a Canadian citizen.

Acting as a carrier is more complex because then you get into CBP paperwork for whatever the product is that you're delivering.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply. My reference to Mexico as a possible point of production for my website design services that were sold during my U.S. sales calls was for this reason:

Since it's illegal under a B-1 for me, as a Canadian, to produce any product in the U.S., could I sell my creative service to, say, six U.S. clients and then, to avoid any perception of having produced the products in the U.S., cross periodically to Mexico in order to create the product on my computer (making a point of securing a credit-card receipt there to verify my location) and then email the product to the client from Mexico?

Thanks again!

Jon

If you're not working in the US, you don't need employment authorisation. I know how you feel because I work in IT as well and you can be using your laptop flying over the US, sat in a transit lounge working, be in a hotel room somewhere getting your e-mail and then you decide to "work", for example via VPN or writing a computer program for a client or whatever.

Technically it's illegal but I can't see how they can enforce it. How many writers have been to the US and written travel books or whatever over the years on a B-2 entry? Thousands probably. With the internet now it's even more silly.

The most idiotic conversation I ever had was with a network engineer I met once in the UK, and it was like: "I'm meeting my client, I do work for him in Calgary and send it to him via VPN." And he replied: "That's funny, my client is in Calgary and I connect to their network via VPN".

The world has changed.

Would you have any practical, 'real-world' opinion on the following?

I'm scheduled to spend five weeks on vacation in the southern U.S. from Mar. 1-mid-April. I have absolutely no plans to engage in any remotely-business-related activities during that period.

However.if, part-way through the trip I find myself in a situation where some typical B-1 type business is viable (some sales call or business meetings, etc.), am I exposing myself to any potential immigration complications or, if the B-1 business opportunities do genuinely appear unexpectedly and, as long as I don't do any 'work', receive any compensation or deliver any product while on U.S. soil, am I okay?

Thanks again.

Jon

Hmm. B-1 and B-2 are pretty much the same, so if you enter on the basis of B-2 and do something that would be covered by B-1, you are okay, I would say, but I'm not an immigration lawyer. At least as a Canadian, I think Canadians are automatically B-1/2 if you enter under one then you also have the other, but check the regs. Visas that are issued by embassies to other nationalities do say B-1/2 on them often.

Certainly I've said to USCIS at the POE that I'm going in to visit family or friends and I might have a business meeting while I'm there and that didn't cause a problem. Legally there's no reason why it should cause a problem unless you get some jobsworth immigration officer who has his head up his ass.