Hi all,

I read on the Department of State's website about visitor visas and have a question that was not answered. I read that a 10 year visa can be granted without TOO much trouble but that it does not mean a non-immigrant can actually stay in the USA for 10 years (this is the part that confuses me). So what exactly does that mean? Does it mean something like.....they are allowed to come into the USA for 10 years but only 6 months out of every year or something like that? The DOS website that specifically deals with this question is not very well written in my opinion. It leaves a lot of guessing. http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/info/info_1298.html The bottom line is that we'd like for her to be able to live with me for as long as possible. She would like to work (she will have her Master's Degree by then) but we both understand that a visitor visa is much easier to get and just being able to be together is more important than working. So what are the rules on the 10 year visa and how does it work?

Thanks in advance!

The 10 year visa is for tourist purposes only. It is a visitor visa which means that GF (wife) cannot work on it. My wife has a 10 year tourist visa. We took our son to the US last month. Even though we only stayed for 3 weeks, she was still stamped in for 6 months, so 6 months per entry is usually the rule.

If "her" is your legal wife then a tourist visa for the maximum 10 years is not too much trouble to obtain as long as you have a paper trail to provide showing your legal ties to each other, but if she is your GF then it may not be so cut and dry.

She wont know how long the visa is valid for until she receives it back in the mail, assuming that she is approved. Good luck

Edited July 2, 201016 yr by mizzi39