Staying in US with 2 passports

Hi,

I am a Canadian citizen as well as a Hong Kong SAR citizen. I have a US visa on each of my passport and each allows me to stay in the US for 6 months (expiration date: 2015 and 2020). Hypothetically, if I want to stay in the US for 8 months, may I first visit the US with my Canadian passport and then return back to Canada after four months, and then travel back to the US (perhaps after a few weeks) with my Hong Kong passport and then stay for another 4 months? Will they notice that I am the same person holding two different visa? Is such conduct illegal? To make it clear, I am not trying to do anything illegal during my stay in the US, but I am just wondering if it is a possibility. For example, let's say I want to take a 8 months course from a US university, can I avoid applying for a student visa by using this method above? Do I need to prepare my bank statement to prove I have the money to support myself during my visit?

Thanks You for reading my question.

The six months is per visit, and is not per passport.

EACH entry, regardless of citizenship, will be evaluated to determine if you have met the requisite ties outside US to be allowed in irrespective of holdinga valid visa or being Cdn citizen.

The CBP is able to tie a person to various passports, so do not presume that they will think youare two separate people.

Once you have been in US several months, any future entry within a short period of time calls into question the strength of your foreign ties.

As to your study quaetion, you must get a status that allows study to study in US. A tourist status does not permit such study (except at schools that are close to the Cdn/Mex borders).

The CBP is able to tie a person to various passports, so do not presume that they will think youare two separate people.

Moreover, I'm curious why the original poster has an actual VISA on his/her Canadian passport. It's quite unusual to be issued a VISA on a Canadian passport--is there more to the story that we should be aware of in answering this question?

If the original poster did somehow manage to get B-2 visas on both the Canadian and the Hong Kong SAR passports, I hope that he/she was honest in applying. I believe that a subsequent VISA application requires that previous VISA applications be disclosed--and this requirement wouldn't be waived just because different passports were being used.

I miss coming to this site, always someone trying to get around following the Law for their own benefit. Good honest people.