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I recently got a US B1/B2 visa with the validity period of 10 years. This is very nice, but since I am a Russian citizen, I was expecting the maximum validity period of 3 years at most.

For example, according to the US travel.gov website the max is 36 months for B-type visas: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/RussianFederation.html. Comments in this post also indicate that the maximum duration is (or used to be) much shorter than 10 years: US B1/B2 visa validity

Is it common to be granted a US visa with a much longer validity period or is it more like an exception? Or maybe the information from travel.gov is not up-to-date, and 10 years is now the official maximum duration for Russian citizens?

Upd: I reside in Canada and since my previous US visa expired less than 4 years ago, I was allowed to send the application documents to the US embassy in Ottawa without interview.

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  • Which embassy/consulate did you apply for the visa from?
    – jcaron
    Commented Oct 30, 2023 at 23:34
  • Do you have another citizenship?
    – Nicolas Formichella
    Commented Oct 31, 2023 at 8:14
  • @jcaron I updated the question with the requested info
    – mintay
    Commented Oct 31, 2023 at 13:50
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    It's possible that, either as an error or as policy, applications in countries other than Russia don't get the limitation which applies to Russian citizens. When you're used to giving 10-year visas all the time, you may forget to notice that you should only give 3 years for this specific application (no idea how much this is automated or manual).
    – jcaron
    Commented Oct 31, 2023 at 14:31
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    @jcaron judging from the Foreign Affairs Manual, it's, well, manual. But there are more countries than just Russia that have B-visa reciprocity periods shorter than 10 years, and they probably issue close to zero B visas to Canadians, since a Canadian citizen can be admitted in B status (and most other nonimmigrant statuses) without a visa.
    – phoog
    Commented Nov 1, 2023 at 0:06

1 Answer 1

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This is not an error if you are a permanent resident of Canada.

Travelers who require visas to travel to the US may receive 10 year visas if they are permanent residents of Canada.

c. Exception for Canada and The Bahamas: Permanent residents and refugees firmly resettled in Canada and The Bahamas who apply for an NIV in their respective countries of residence are subject to the reciprocity schedule of that country, not their country of nationality.

See "9 FAM 403.8-3(A) Applying Reciprocity" at https://fam.state.gov/FAM/09FAM/09FAM040308.html

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