More than I ever wanted to know about Visas

This is his J-1 Visa....it allows him to stay here one year as an exchange student.....this is what is supposed to be in this country under.

This is the form they completed when he came into this country (I-94) which clearly states that he has to leave by Feb 12, 2011......it should say July 2011.

This is the Visa they used to process him....B-2....it only allows him to stay here 6 months.

I went online and made an appointment with CIS (in Charlotte) for Wednesday morning….we will have to pull him out of school as the appt is at 9:45 AM but at this point….we really don’t have any choice. I called CIS this morning and told them a little bit about the situation….they told me that the folks at Customs and Border Protection should be able to help us and he gave me a 800 number to call. I called this number but they were temporarily closed….a recording told me to call back in an hour….when I called back, I was given a number to a ‘deferred inspection area’ which turned out to be the Charlotte Airport….right back where we started from. I spoke with a different officer but I think it was a male officer who was present there the day we were there and he told me that it was Matheus’ responsibility to present his paperwork and we would have to go to CIS to solve the problem.

I spoke with Alina this morning (1/3/11) and explained everything that had happened and she suggested that I call the port of entry at the Raleigh Airport. She is also going to look into the possibility of Matheus traveling to Canada with his brother while he is in New York (Jan 5-25) for a few days so that he can re-enter the country using his J-1 status. She and I both are concerned about his having some difficulty coming back into the country however and I really feel he should have an adult with him when he travels in case there are problems. These people can be BRUTAL. Tommy and I do not currently have a passport but we are filling out applications as we speak…but I am not sure that even if we pay for a speedy processing….we could get them done in time.

I did call the 800 number back to ask about the possibility of Matheus traveling out of the country in order to re-enter under the correct status. The lady I spoke with there (Kathy) said she ‘didn’t think’ he would have any problems but he needed to make sure he had all of his paperwork ‘in order.