2

J1 Visa overstaying?

I have overstayed my J-1 visa by 6 weeks beyond the grace period end date in 2016. Currently, I am applying for a UK tourist visa. I haven't received any official warnings during this time. How should I answer this question "Have you been deported, removed or otherwise required to leave any country, (including the UK) in the last 10 years?"

however, I ;ve read this "For F-1 and J-1 students admitted for D/S, however, unlawful presence will not begin until U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or another relevant government authority makes a formal determination that you are here unlawfully. For example, if you overstayed 90 days before receiving a formal determination from USCIS that you were in the United States unlawfully, those 90 days would not count towards the 180-day period and the clock for unlawful presence would begin on the date USCIS made that decision. These determinations are often made when an F-1 or J-1 student files a change of status application after having overstayed."

and if I want to check my status, who should i call?

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    I’m struggling to see the difficulty in answering the question. You haven’t “been deported, removed or otherwise required to leave any country, (including the UK) in the last 10 years”, so why would you answer anything other than No? OTOH you may very well need to answer Yes to the question about overstaying
    – Traveller
    Mar 20, 2021 at 0:30
  • Were you in fact admitted for duration of status ("D/S")?
    – phoog
    Mar 20, 2021 at 0:44

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Whether you accrued unlawful presence or not is of no relevance to the question of whether you were "deported, removed or otherwise required to leave" the United States. You weren't.

Weirdly, whether you accrued unlawful presence also has no bearing on whether your presence in the country was in fact lawful. It's paradoxically possible to be unlawfully present without actually accruing unlawful presence. That's because the accrual of unlawful presence is only relevant to the automatic ban that is triggered by the accrual of unlawful presence.

You should answer "no" to the question about whether you were "deported, removed or otherwise required to leave any country." But if they ask you whether you've ever stayed anywhere beyond your authorized period of admission, you should answer "yes."

Improve this answer
3
  • thank you for answering but since I overstayed my visa, shouldn't I require to leave "otherwise required to leave any country" ?
    – user117039
    Mar 20, 2021 at 0:59
  • 1
    @user117039 No. You would only answer Yes to that question if the Immigration authorities had taken some kind of action against you eg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_proceedings. Overstaying is not the same thing, as the answer explains. The UK Visitor visa application has a separate question regarding overstaying, to which you must answer Yes
    – Traveller
    Mar 20, 2021 at 9:09
  • 2
    @user117039 every tourist or other temporary visitor is required to leave at the end of their period of admission. That's not what they're asking about. They're asking about whether you were the subject of a specific order to leave.
    – phoog
    Mar 20, 2021 at 14:11

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .