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I'm going to redeem my ANA mileages to get a return flight between Tokyo and LA/NY. However, the availability is pretty scarce and thus the only viable itinerary is the following:

  • Tokyo to LA on April 20 (22:55 - 16:45)
  • NY to Tokyo on July 19 (18:15 - 21:15 +1day)

In this case, I would stay in US for 91 days, which exceeds 1 day of the visa-free requirement.

So I would like to make it to 90 if at all possible. Can I arrive at 16:45 but wait in the checked-in baggage lane for 7 hours before getting through the immigration? The problem might arrise in the ESTA application, which requires you to fill in the flight number, though I'm not sure what it is all about...

Or is there any other workaround to stay up to 90 days legally?

JonathanReez
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Blaszard
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  • I do not know how they calculate the 90 days, but April 20 16:45 PDT + 90 days = July 19 13:45 EDT, and the remaining hours are easily lost by getting out of the plane in line and checking in early. If they count arrival and departure day as full days, that doesn't work of course. – Aganju Apr 06 '17 at 10:44
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    Related issue - as in other questions (http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/46211/arriving-at-night-before-schengen-visa-valid-date) - the airline might observe the issue and not let you board. Less likely that they'll spot the 91 day issue, but just thought I'd mention it. – Mark Mayo Apr 06 '17 at 11:32
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    What about visiting Canada somewhere in those 90 days? – DeltaLima Apr 06 '17 at 14:18
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    @DeltaLima Under normal circumstances, a short trip to Canada does not "reset the clock" or serve as an exception on a VWP stay in the US. Upon return to the US, the visitor will most likely be given the same "exit by" date as they had on the first entry into the US and won't gain any extra days. – Hunter Apr 06 '17 at 16:37
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    @DeltaLima Visiting Canada will not reset the ESTA 90 clock. – Jacob Horbulyk Apr 06 '17 at 16:48
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    @Aganju: You've got the timezones the wrong way round there. 16:45 Pacific is 19:45 Eastern, so the OP can just barely make it. – jwodder Apr 06 '17 at 18:48
  • @DeltaLima My thought too - can you make the first leg Tokyo-Vancouver, or return from Montreal or Toronto? – sdenham Apr 06 '17 at 19:19
  • @DeltaLima Adding Canada in the middle of the itinerary is not an option since it is so expensive to add two other tickets. Changing from NY to Vancouver, as sdenham suggested, is a decent option, though. – Blaszard Apr 06 '17 at 20:03
  • Think you won't arouse the interest of CBP when you clear immigration several hours after landing? – Loren Pechtel Apr 07 '17 at 00:59

1 Answers1

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If you arrive at LAX internationally, you will be in a corridor between the gate and the immigration desks. There are nothing but bathrooms before immigration, and immigration is before baggage reclaim and customs. To delay your purported arrival until the next day, you'd be abandoning your bag for 7 hours and probably be hanging around in the bathroom to avoid being approached by security to find out what you're up to.

According to a post on flyertalk and another on lonelyplanet and probably your own previous VWP stamps, your entry date is day 0, so it looks like you'd be fine with 90 days. That is of course providing CBP is ok with you staying for the maximum possible time on the VWP.

Update: I just googled some images of a VWP passport stamp that has both arrival and admitted to date and got two different ranges. One gave 91 days according to a date duration calculator, and another gave 90.

Berwyn
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    It's also not clear that the corridor is open 24 hours a day. If no international flights are scheduled to arrive in the late night and there are no delayed flights, the security staff may try to clear out that corridor and force you to enter so that their staff can go home. – Jacob Horbulyk Apr 06 '17 at 16:47
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    I would double and triple check that the entry date is day 0 instead of day 1. Going over the 90 day limit will make it incredibly difficult to enter the United States in the future, even if you overstay by mistake. – Kevin Apr 06 '17 at 17:50
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    Hanging around like that is going to attract the attention of DHS as well as immigration. Not recommended. – sdenham Apr 06 '17 at 19:17
  • I assumed the USC would specify how the 90 days are counted. Apparently it doesn't. – reirab Apr 06 '17 at 19:27
  • @Blaszard It doesn't look like the CBP know either – Berwyn Apr 06 '17 at 20:08
  • There's always the option to talk to the immigration officer and explain him the situation. Chances are that he gives you 91 days if this is really how they count. – Aganju Apr 06 '17 at 22:26
  • @Blaszard in Schengen, where they count calendar days or any portion thereof, the day of entry counts as day 1. – phoog Apr 07 '17 at 13:22
  • @Aganju VWP admissions are set at 90 days by statute. The officer has no discretion to grant 91 days. – phoog Apr 07 '17 at 13:25
  • @phoog Ah, you are right. I'm not sure why I made the mistake... Deleted the original comment to keep others from misunderstanding it. – Blaszard Apr 07 '17 at 13:39
  • @phoog The officer has no discretion to grant 91 days, but do they have discretion to grant 90x24 hours rather than count both day of arrival and day of departure in the 90? – Berwyn Apr 07 '17 at 14:28
  • I just looked at about ten vwp stamp images online; they all had the "until" date on the 90th day after the admission date. Can you link to your contrary evidence? – phoog Apr 07 '17 at 14:28
  • @phoog https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/1278187-passport-stamp-query.html – Berwyn Apr 07 '17 at 14:30
  • But that's one of the stamps I checked. Counting inclusively, Oct 19 to Oct 31 is 13 days in October. Add 30 days in November, 31 in December, and 17 in January, and you get 91 days, meaning that the day of admission counts as day zero of the 90-day period. – phoog Apr 07 '17 at 14:55
  • @phoog, oh, I thought you could only find the reverse (90 days exclusive). I'll check again – Berwyn Apr 07 '17 at 15:01
  • @phoog https://i.stack.imgur.com/FmVtk.jpg apr 4 - jul 2 is 90 days inclusive I believe – Berwyn Apr 07 '17 at 15:05
  • You're right (27+31+30+2). I wonder: was that a mistake? Does the practice vary from one port to another? Regardless, it would be risky to make an application for entry that relied on the assumption that the date of entry would not count towards the 90 days. – phoog Apr 07 '17 at 15:41
  • @phoog That last image has a DEN and NYC stamp both with 90 days inclusive. I wonder if it's based on the time of entry. Perhaps after a certain time of the day, say noon, you get the extra day? – Berwyn Apr 07 '17 at 15:56