Automatic visa revalidation is one of a handful of exceptions to the general rule that a person who is not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident can only lawfully enter the United States if he/she has a valid visa. According to automatic visa revalidation, people on some non-immigrant visa statuses who visit Canada, Mexico or some adjacent islands close to the United States for a period of less than 30 days can re-enter the United States based on a valid
Form I-94 Form I-94, the Arrival-Departure Record Card, is a form used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intended to keep track of the arrival and departure to/from the United States of people who are not United States citizens or lawful perman ...
even if their visa has expired.
Rules
A person is eligible for automatic visa revalidation provided the following conditions are met:
* The underlying authorization for the current status continues to be valid (such as the
Form I-129 for non-immigrant workers or
Form I-20 for students in F status).
* The person’s absence from the United States was 30 days or less.
* The person did not visit any countries other than Mexico or Canada in that period. People on
F visa or
J visa
J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...
statuses are also allowed to have visited adjacent islands to the United States (i.e., the
Caribbean Islands
Almost all of the Caribbean islands are in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest island is Cuba. Other sizable islands include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the smaller islands a ...
).
state sponsor of terrorism
State-sponsored terrorism is terrorist violence carried out with the active support of national governments provided to violent non-state actors. States can sponsor terrorist groups in several ways, including but not limited to funding terrorist ...
. As of 2018, the list includes four countries: North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...
(designated November 20, 2017), Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
(designated January 19, 1984), Sudan (designated December 29, 1979), and Syria (designated August 12, 1993).
Similar exceptions
* The Visa Waiver Program
The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a program of the United States federal government that allows nationals of specific countries to travel to the U.S. for tourism, business, or while in transit for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. I ...
allows nationals of 40 countries to enter the United States without visas, but they can enter only for short-term business/tourism trips, under conditions similar to those governing B visa
A B visa is one of a category of non-immigrant visas issued by the United States government to foreign nationals seeking entry for a temporary period. The two types of B visa are the B-1 visa, issued to those seeking entry for business purposes, ...
s.
* Some people currently in the United States can apply for advance parole
Parole, in the immigration laws of the United States, generally refers to official permission to enter and remain temporarily in the United States, under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), without formal admission ...
that allows them to leave and re-enter the United States without a valid visa. Advance parole is not a generic re-entry permit.
Relation with change of status
Automatic visa revalidation also applies to cases where the applicant never acquired a visa for his or her current non-immigrant status but rather transitioned through it by filing the appropriate form to change non-immigrant status (such as Form I-129 or Form I-539). Instead of the "visa", what gets revalidated is the change of status, and therefore in lieu of the visa the applicant must carry the Form I-797 Approval Notice in addition to all the other supporting documentation. In particular, it does not matter if the applicant has never acquired a visa for the new status.
References
{{reflist
Visa policy of the United States