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Comment by ido | Hacker News Reader

What does this depend on? I (Israeli citizen) always got 10 year visas to the US (now on my 3rd one).

Funnily enough those instances I described are based on Israelis as well.

From what I gather it mostly depends on how the person reviewing your application thinks it's likely you might break your visa terms (stay longer than you should, work when you're not allowed to). Usually happens for younger people or people involved with problematic industries (military etc)

I think B1/B2 visa last of 10 years.

I guess the 30 Days visa are J visa ?

I think 10 years visas are for some "friendly" countries, others get 3 year visas if no 221g procedure was involved.

It's based on a subjective risk assessment. For example, middle aged Indians are usually issued 10 year visas to visit their children in the US.

I (Brazilian) had to get a J1 for a 3-month internship despite having a B1, my sister had a 6-month J1 for another exchange, so I guess it can vary

If it is work or education of any kind (internship falls into that bucket I guess), then B1/B2 won't work.

Visa type is also a factor. F1 and H1B frequently get capped to just 1 year.

I had a 5-year F1 visa for what would normally be a 2-year graduate course.

I was under the impression that 5 years was the norm, considering a lot of undergrad courses (in engineering especially) take about that long to complete.

Grad schools too can take that long if you're aiming for a PhD.

(Although, when you graduate your F1 expires even if there's still time left on it; so you can't continue staying in the US after graduating without obtaining an OPT, or a different type of visa, PR or whatever).

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