Practice Area

Temporary Visas

Visitors:
 
B-1 Business Visitor: Foreign nationals who will travel to the US for business meetings, attend conferences or seminars, and conduct or receive certain types of training, may apply for a B-1 Visa. Upon entering the US, a US Customs Officer can allow a visit of up to 6 months, which may be extended.

B-2 Tourist Visitor: Foreign nationals who will travel to the US for pleasure, such as vacations, tourism, weddings, and gatherings with friends and/or family, may apply for a B-2 Visa. The foreign national entering on a B-2 Visa is not permitted to work or attend school in the US. This 6 month period of stay may be extended. The Visa is applied for at a US Consulate. Due to the large amount of fraud involved with Visitor visas, these are highly scrutinized; therefore, an individual should be able to establish clear financial and familial ties to their home country prior to applying for the visa.

Exception for Canadian Citizens: Canadian Citizens are not required to obtain a B-1 or B-2 Visa if traveling to the US for one of the purposes outlined above. However, Canadians are still required to qualify under either category by demonstrating the temporary purpose of the trip (as mentioned above) and adequate financial funds for the trip to the US. On January 1, 2009, Canadians will be required to have a passport to enter the US.

Visa Waiver Program
Foreign nationals from a select group of countries do not need a B-1 or B-2 Visa prior to traveling to the US. Upon entry to the US an individual arriving under the Visa Waiver program is permitted to stay for no more than 90 days, and may not extend or change to another Visa status. The countries eligible for Visa Waivers include: Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.


Students:
 
In the student category, a potential international student may be granted a J-1 Visa, F-1 Visa or an M-1 Visa. The J-1 and F-1 are the most common and discussed below.

J-1 Exchange Visitors: The J-1 Visa can be used by a wide variety of people to come to the US to participate in cultural and educational programs. Foreign nationals who may use the J-1 include students, scholars, trainees, teacher, professors, foreign medical graduates, international visitors, camp counselors and summer sports directors, au pairs, and summer work/travel students.  Caveat: Certain J-1 Visa holders may be subject to a two-year home residence requirement. This requires the foreign national to return to his/her country of residence for two years before being eligible to return to the US in another Visa category. A waiver may be granted, but it is a complex process and not an automatic grant.

F-1 Students: Many foreign nationals who attend school in the US are admitted under an F-1 Visa. The foreign national student must be accepted for enrollment by the school before applying for an F-1 Visa, and needs to work closely with the institution’s Designated School Official (DSO) to obtain the proper paperwork.


Employment Based:

All temporary US employment based visas require that an employer sponsor the individual. The visas below are the most commonly used for employment:

H-1B: US employers frequently use the H-1B Visa category to quickly hire foreign nationals. A prospective employee generally qualifies for H-1B status if he/she holds at least a US Bachelor’s Degree (or equivalent) relevant to the field in which he/she will be working, and the position normally requires at least a Bachelor’s Degree as a  requirement to perform the job. The H-1B Visa is usually granted for three years, and extended up to a maximum of 6 years.
 
L-1: The “intracompany transferee” Visa is available to a foreign national who is being transferred from an employer outside the US, to a related employer in the US. This Visa specifically applies to those in executive, managerial or specialized knowledge positions. In order to qualify, the foreign national must have worked for a related company outside the US for at least 1 year in the last 3 years, prior to coming to the US. Moreover, a clear parent, subsidiary or affiliate relationship between the foreign and US companies must be established. There are two types of L-1 Visas, each with its own qualifying factors and validity dates.

O-1: Select foreign nationals with extraordinary abilities in the arts, sciences, education, business, entertainment or athletics who will work in the US in a position relevant to their extraordinary ability may qualify for an O-1 Visa. In order to qualify, the applicant must demonstrate international prominence in his/her particular area of extraordinary ability with significant documentation, usually in the form of objective evidence.

TN NAFTA Visas: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) created the TN status to facilitate the movement of workers across the shared borders. TN’s are available to foreign nationals who are citizens of Canada or Mexico, and will be employed in the US in one of the specific occupational categories listed under NAFTA.

R-1 – Religious Worker visa:

Priests, Pastors, Nuns and certain other religious workers
can qualify for an R-1 visa as long as they have been members of the religion
for a designated period of time prior to coming to the US, and the religious institution is a US and
internationally recognized non profit religious organization. These visas are carefully
scrutinized by the Department of State and the Immigration Service due to the
high level of fraud that has been perpetuated in this area.



Temporary Visas for Family Members:


K-1 Visa: The K-1 Visa is for the fiancé (e) of a US citizen who is living abroad and intends to enter the US to marry the US citizen. The US Citizen Fiancé files an application with the USCIS Regional Service Center in the US and then the foreign national completes the process with an interview at the appropriate US Consulate. A fiancé, who enters the US on the K-1 Visa, must marry the US Citizen within 90 days of admission into the US. This time limit cannot be extended. Once married, an application for a green card is filed.K-2 Visas are available to the children (under the age of 21 to apply for the Visa, and under the age of 18 on the date of the marriage) of K-1 parent.

K-3 Visa: The K-3 Visa is available to the spouse of a US Citizen who is living abroad and would like to enter the US while awaiting the completion of her green card application. The process begins by filing an application with the USCIS Missouri Service Center, and is completed with an interview at the US Consulate in the country where the marriage took place. K-3’s can receive work authorization, and the Visa is valid for multiple entries to the US for two years. The K-4 Visa is available to the children (under the age of 21 to apply for the Visa, and under the age of 18 on the date of the marriage) of the K-3 applicant.