B1/B2 Visa with Annotation to attend conference

[sonali123]

I have been issued B1/B2 visa with multiple entries for 1 year, but it is annotated with a conference name, date and place (To attend conference at Los Angeles May 7-9 2008) for which I applied. I am going to US for the first time. The conference is in California, but my brother-in-law stays in Michigan. I plan to go to Michigan & take domestic flight from Michigan to CA & come back to Michigan. So my Port of Entry & Port of Exit will be Michigan, my visa will not get any stamp of my California visit. My question is it mandatory for me to either enter or exit through california.
Eagerly waiting for the replies. Kindly help.

[peace]

Since they gave you an annotation, I advise you to comply with that.
It will matter when you apply for another visa after the expiry of this one.
If you have a CA entry stamp it will show to visa officer that you complied with the annotation.

Additionally, entering at michigan with this annotation may make the officer
ask you questions.

[sonali123]

Thank you so much for the quick reply.
But the conference is for 3 days. I have shown my stay for 10 days in DS156. Also in DS156 I mentioned the address of stay as Michigan as I did
not book any hotel till date. VO asked me that why did I mention Michigan address as my place of stay. I told her that I don't have any hotel reservations in California and none of my relative is in CA.

Also do they expect me to stay in US just for 3 days. If not, what's wrong if I go to Michigan & come back from Michigan. The conference is May 7-9. I plan to go on 2rd May & come back on 13th May. Kindly reply.

[peace]

No you are not bound to stay just for 3 days.
The duration of stay allowed will be stamped by the entry officer on your I 94 card . They usually stamp 6 months for first time visitors.
Please take note of the following;

*The entry officer asks every visitor the purpose of the visit and desired duration of stay. You must answer "conference and 2 weeks".
Due to your annotation he may ask you for your ticket , so you must have a return ticket with return date in 2 weeks.

* Even he stamps 6 weeks, I suggest you return in 2 weeks, if you plan to apply again after the expiry of the current visa. If you have other plans, eg.
to change status on this visit etc, it is a different matter.


*If you enter at michigan,they will likely not stop you but you will have to do a lot of convincing and answering due to your annotation. Also, You will have to have some kind of hotel accommodation in CA for 3 days of conference time even if you enter michigan,I suggest you do that now in case they ask you to show that.

[sonali123]

Thank you very much for your replies. I don't want to stay there for more than 10-12 days even if IO stamps for 3 months. But I don't want to go straight to CA. I will make hotel reservations at CA as well I will get an air ticket from Michi-CA & back CA-Michi. Ofcourse, I will have return ticket with me from Michigan back to India. With these doc's in hand, will IO allow me to enter & leave Michigan.

Also next time if I apply for visa, will they check my passport for CA entry or my stay of 10 days & my dates of visit as per the conference is enough for them.

I thank you whole-heartedly for your replies to my queries so soon.

[amit18roy]

hi

I have some queries about the US visa i got the US Visa on 31st of may to 29th of november for 6 months but there has been written R B1 B2 TYPE AND CLASS and under ENTRY it has written 1 annotation i dont know what does it mean. I am going for the bodybuilding competition in MIAMI for 1 week but if i want to stay more than one week in case my competition would be going for more than one week and if i won and selected for another competition later on after sometimes so i want to ask could i stay more than one week and if there is another competition later on can i go again or will stay till my next competition in the period of my visa expiry date pls guide me

thanks