The general rule for a B is that you can stay as long as they think that you are not living and working here and that you have a residence outside of the US that you have no intention of relinquishing, and that you have the intent to return home when you legal stay ends.   In practice, for people here on a B-2 (tourist visa), that means that they will usually give you six months when you enter, and they will ordinarily give you one six-month extension if you file the appropriate papers.

B-1s are a little different.   Usually, when people come for a business purpose, they have a specific goal in mind.  And, therefore, at the border, B-1 business visitors are often given a time that is meant to correspond to the purpose of their trip.   If someone is coming for a business meeting, he might be given only a week or ten days.   If it is something that could take two or three weeks, he might be given a month.

But, m-ssionaries are often coming for a longer term.  In fact the regulations specifically say that a B visitor can stay more than a year, even a number of years, on a B-1 visa as long as the meet the requirements, stated above, for coming on a B visa.    However, it is not that easy.

At the border, they will seldom give you B-1 status for more than six months, even if you tell them you want to stay at least a year.   But, you can then request an extension.   The advantage of being a B-1 m-ssionary, is that you are more likely to be able to get an extension beyond one year.  It seems to me that I have known a person who stayed here for several years as a B-1.

But, that is rare.   And, the longer your stay stretches on, the less likely you are to get an extension.

However, the real problem is at the border.   It is seldom that a person comes here and wants to stay for two or three years without a break.   Sometime in the process he will want to go home.   And, when he returns to the border with his B-1 and asks to be readmitted, there is where he will most likely have trouble.   They are the gatekeepers.  They are the ones who are trained to be suspicious and look for people who may want to enter and stay.   They will look at your record and see that you have been here for the past year or 18 months, and will see that you have only been out of the country for two weeks or a month, and it will look suspicious to them.  It will fit the pattern of a person who really is living here rather than visiting.    If they are up on their rules, they will understand that a B-1 is allowed to do this.    But, often, they will look at this from the same point of view that they would look at a B-2 visitor, and deny you.   I don’t really fault them — they are expected to be suspicious, and there are so many different types of visitors and visas, and it is hard, mentally, to switch from the suspicious B-2 visa mental mode (where they are most of the time) and switch to consider a more generous but rare exception to the rules.

So, in summary, a B-1 m-ssionary can potentially be here for several years.  But in practice, I think it may be difficult to stretch the time here much past a year or 18 months, especially if you want to come and go.

But, if there is anyone who has been able to stay long on a B-1 visa as a m-ssionary, I (and any other readers) would be very interested in hearing from you.

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consulate an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.