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I have received a B1/B2 US visa. While applying for it, I haven't booked plane tickets yet and didn't have a solid plan of my travel, only a list of places I am planning to visit (New Haven and Boston). In my DS-160 I have put an address in New Haven as an address where I'm going to stay during my trip and notified the councilor orally that I'm going to actually visit multiple places, I just planned to go to New Haven first.

Now I am planning the trip thoroughly and my plans seem to have changed. I would prefer to go to San Francisco and then to Boston, and to not go to New Haven at all. However, I am not sure that such rearrangement is allowed.

Who can I contact concerning this question?

Will they compare the roadmap of my trip to what I have filled out previously in my visa application at the border?

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  • Your visa is not linked on a specific plan. People change often plan, so it is not a problem. Just: the purpose should be the same (or one allowed in your visa), your travel should be in the validity period of visa. The more differences of original plan (I do no think destination is so relevant on your case), the more question you may have at arrival. (just to verify that you have legitimate changes on plan, and not that you lied just to get the visa, for e.g. remain in US/work,..) – Giacomo Catenazzi Mar 18 at 15:43
  • Did you indicate in your interview that your plans were not yet "solid"? (I suspect that it's fine even if you didn't, but if you did, it's much more likely to be fine.) – phoog Mar 18 at 15:43
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    @GiacomoCatenazzi for US visas, only the arrival needs to fall within the validity period of the visa (and US visas don't have a validity start date separate from the date of issue, so all you have to worry about is arriving on or before the expiration date). – phoog Mar 18 at 15:45
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There are no issues with changing your plans, as long as the change is an honest change.

If your change leads the Customs and Border Patrol staff to believe that your visa was obtained via fraud, then they can take action including denying you entry to the country and invalidating your visa.

Simple changing your holiday plans would not trigger such a determination. However if (for example) you obtained your visa on the premise of coming to the US for a holiday, but instead changed your plans to enter the country to look for work, then you might have an issue. As that's not what's happened here, you'll be fine!

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  • Thank you! You resolved my concerns. The purpose of my travel stays indeed the same, whereas the destination changed. Hope this is indeed not a problem. – Gretchen Mar 18 at 17:17

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