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I am a Mexican citizen with a Border Crossing Card (BCC) that expires in late January 2025. However, for the purposes of buying a cheap flight out of SFO to a different country, I would be crossing by land into the US and then make it to SFO either by land or via a domestic flight. For both options, I would need an I-94. This would be in a couple of weeks.

Question is, would I have any problems getting an I-94 approved? My flight would likely be roundtrip and my trip would only last a couple of weeks. So while I would be planning to return to the US, I would exit immediately.

My concern is that I have heard conflicting answers.

One, that they will not approve it because I-94 are supposed to be valid for 6 months

Two, that they can approve it, but it will be valid only for as long as the BCC (B1/B2) visa is valid. I don't know if it being a BCC makes a difference in the rules. I've tried looking at the CBP site but have found nothing conclusive.

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    BCC is a b1/b2 visa, essentially, so what's your concern?
    – littleadv
    Commented Sep 4 at 6:39
  • I have heard conflicting answers. One, that they will not approve it because I-94 are supposed to be valid for 6 months, and two, that they can approve it but it will be valid only for as long as the BCC (B1/B2) visa is valid. I don't know if it being a BCC makes a difference in the rules. I've tried looking at the cbp site but have found nothing conclusive.
    – MuchToLearn
    Commented Sep 4 at 14:49
  • The period of admission is required to be shorter than usual because of impending passport expiration (the rules are a bit complex, but for a Mexican passport the I-94 must expire on or before the passport's expiration date). Perhaps someone had a shortened period of admission for that reason but the explanation was changed before it reached you.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 6 at 14:39

1 Answer 1

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In the US, visa should only be valid when crossing the border. So given your plan of traveling in both directions before the BCC expires, you should have no issues and you may get an I-94 for half a year. However, the CBP is under no obligation to give the maximum stay period approval, and may give shorter periods. Whether you would have a problem being admitted, in either direction, is unknown until you try, but you do have the visa needed for that.

One issue you may run into is that the airlines won't recognize the BCC as a valid visa. The CBP manual does list it in the list of the approved documents, and you can refer the check-in staff to that if needed.

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    The BCC is explicitly listed on Timatic for Mexican citizens travelling to the US.
    – jcaron
    Commented Sep 5 at 7:58
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    @jcaron on top of that, the document title printed on the card is "B-1/B-2 visa/border crossing card" -- hard to misunderstand, but people often misunderstand things despite their being stated clearly.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 6 at 14:42

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