Business Travel to US for 5 months

score:5

Accepted answer

There is nothing to worry about.

I did the same thing a while ago - for 7 months - and the officers asked me the usual stuff, which company, what work, etc. You answer them truthfully about duration, content (training, project discussions and coordination meetings, customer meetings, etc.), and that's it.

The core point is you are not doing anything illegal or shady, so there is nothing to worry. You have the correct paperwork, and they are only verifying the details.

Upvote:2

I'm going to suggest an answer and hope that someone else will come along with more knowledge.

I've entered the US dozens of times, probably hundreds, on multiple visa types and also on an ESTA many times. Hence, I'm probably considered a small risk and won't get the same type of interview as you. I have had many interrogations though! I also have many colleagues who have related their experiences to me.

If I were you, I would probably request an entry for a shorter period than 5 months. Perhaps 2 or 3 months. My reasoning would be that as a visitor with no prior history, a 5 month entry might be rejected as indicating that the purpose of entry is for work. If I received a 6 month entry stamp, I would then consider changing my flights to leave later.

At immigration, you must do as you have said and talk about training, meetings, knowledge transfer. Do not mention the word "work"!

Upvote:8

Just updating this now, I am now in US for about a month having my trainings. Here's what happened during the immigration officer in Point of Entry:

He asked me my purpose of visiting US, and how long I will stay. I said 5 months, he was quite skeptic because of the long duration of training, he asked for supporting documents like invitation letter and list of trainings I will be attending into and why will it take that long. I told him that the purpose of the training is actually a knowledge transfer because the project our company got will be developed back in my country and I am the one who leads it. He asked me the what is the nature of our services/projects. And he stamped my i-94 for 6 months.

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