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NONIMMIGRANT
(TEMPORARY) VISAS
A BASIC PRIMER
There is a wide range of temporary visas, used
for many different purposes and each lasting from a few days
to several years. The INS must approve some in advance before
being reviewed and issued by the State Department; others
are only reviewed by the State Department. Visas may be granted
to the principal applicant and to his or her dependents (spouse
and minor children).
There is a difference between a visa and a status,
although both are referred to in the same manner and with
the same alphabetical designation (based on the respective
section of the Immigration and Nationality Act).
A visa is simply a document in the person’s passport.
It serves as a “ticket” to ensure that a
foreign national can board the airplane to the U.S.
A person’s visa status is both the category of
admission and the time an individual may remain in the United
States and is granted by the INS once the applicant arrives
at the border or a port of entry, and can be changed or extended
by the INS at one of its remote Service Centers.
The different temporary visa categories
are:
- Diplomatic employees and their households
- Business visitors (B-1) or tourists
(B-2)
- Transit visa (pass-through at an airport
or seaport)
- Crewmember (air or sea)
- Treaty-Investors or Treaty-Traders
(from countries where we have a treaty of commerce and investment)
- Students
- Employees of International Organizations
(IMF, OPIC, OAS, International Red Cross, etc.)
- Temporary Workers. Can be professionals
(H-1B), nurses (H-1C), agricultural workers
(H-2A), temporary or seasonal workers (H-2B), or trainees
(H-3)
- Representatives of international media
- Exchange visitors (educational exchange
students, au pairs, graduate medical trainees, practical
training students, professors and researchers, short-term
scholars, camp counselors)
- Fiances and fiancees; spouses of U.S.
citizens married abroad
- Intracompany transferees (executives,
managers, persons with proprietary knowledge)
- Language and vocational students
- NATO employees
- Extraordinary ability aliens
- Athletes, entertainment groups (such
as orchestras) and support personnel
- Cultural exchange visitors (example:Smithsonian
Folklife Festival)
- Religious workers
- Criminal informants
- Victims of international trafficking
in persons
- Victims of spousal or child abuse
- Spouses and minor children of permanent
residents who are waiting for green cards.
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