I just used my January, 2024 passport expiration date to shorten my extension period to 10 months, which moved my visa extension date from March to January, as they will only extend up to your passport expiry date. If your passport expire date and remaining validity are favorable, that may work for you.

@Tod ********

thank you, that is clear as a bell

I’m here ~50% of the year and have been doing this for several years with no issues or questions.

Looks like I applied on /21 and received approval on /21.

At the risk of stating the obvious, print the e-visa paperwork and don’t lose it - immigration wanted to see it for my non-O application as well as for the extension application, despite the corresponding stamp in my passport. There was a moment of stress when I showed them the email with the circled check mark, which was inadequate - they needed to see the page that has the embassy seal in the header, and I had stapled it under the check mark page, so we skipped by it several times.

@Tod ********

correct. It’s been over three years since the last time I did this, and I am getting older, but I don’t recall those questions.

Thank you all for the valuable information.

@Mark ***********

FWIW, I arrived on the 60 day tourist visa with a return ticket 90 days in the future with no questions asked, as you can extend that visa by 30 days. Not sure if this helps in your case.

@Tod ********

and if you traffic in their group, Wise (formerly Transferwise) is not flagging international transfers as such. Bummer. Thanks again for the info.

@John *******

at least in my recent experience in the US, applying for a non-O here requires comprehensive medical insurance (in addition to COVID coverage) that is both expensive and requires a medical checkup if you are over 61.