Are you here on an ESTA, also known as Visa Waiver, and your ESTA is about to expire and
you want to know how to extend it? Watch this video and I'll tell you more. Hello, everybody.
This is Jacob Sapochnick, I am right here in locked down San Diego due to the Coronavirus.
And in this video, we'll talk about options for those that come here on ESTA, also known
as the Visa Waiver, for 90 days. Those are the permits that Europeans use when they come
here to the United States. And what to do if you are about… when the permit is about
to expire and you cannot leave the US because of the Coronavirus or any other emergency
situation that you are in. But before that, I asked you to subscribe to our channel. Click
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for you guys. So, let's talk about the Visa Waiver and how to extend it under these crazy
circumstances. So, it started with JFK in New York where a couple of days ago, the CBP
there announced that they would grant what is called satisfactory departure. So it's
a procedure where if you're 14 days or less, your status expires 14 days or less, before
the day you have to leave, you can submit a request for satisfactory departure. And
in that case, you submit your passport information, your name, and date of birth, and also, the
original flight information that you were supposed to leave, and then also, the reasons
why you cannot leave. And then, the CBP, on a case by case basis will decide if you should
qualify for this extension of 30 days. So, we have a case, right now, of a client who…
he's visiting from Germany and he was on a bike tour here in San Diego. And just before
the lockdown here, and somebody there had the Coronavirus, and he was also infected.
And he was about to go back to Germany and started feeling bad. So, one of the reasons
we used to ask for him for 30 more days is the fact that he's contagious right now. If
he's going to board that flight, he is going to infect so many people and it’s not also
safe for him to fly. So, this was a good reason and CBP will take it to give 30 more days.
Again, when JFK CBP announced that anybody that came through JFK and they're going to
leave from JFK, they can directly apply at the CBP deferred inspection in JFK. But I
think this is going to be possible to do this in all states in all port of entries where
people are, as the visitors were stuck here, they need more time, they can actually apply
at the CBP deferred inspection office with the reasons for satisfactory departure request,
asking for 30 more days to give them more time to either feel better or if they're on
quarantine, to be able to be finished with that and so they can leave the US. So, this
is a pretty important thing to know because people that are here in ESTA, as you know,
you cannot renew ESTA. ESTA is a 90-day privileged entry to the United States, unlike a visa
where we can file for an extension. A tourist visa will get an extra six months, with a
Visa Waiver, you cannot. And the meaning of overstaying an ESTA status is quite significant
because you can actually not use ESTA ever again if you overstayed. So, therefore, people
who come here on ESTA are extremely careful. And they want to make sure that they're able
to either leave on time or in this case, request an extension. So, there you have it. If you’re
here on ESTA, if you're in New York, then right now, the easiest thing to do is just
call the CBP office at JFK and try to speak to deferred inspection over there to go through
the process of applying for the satisfactory departure process. Remember, you have to be
14 days or less before leaving. You cannot just show up here, be here for 30 days and
then say, “You know what, I want to get more time.” No, you have to be literally
two weeks before or less before things expire. So, hopefully, this information was helpful.
Make sure you don't overstay your ESTA. And most importantly, stay safe, stay healthy,
and we'll see you in our next video.