B visas

A B-1 visa allows you to be in the U.S. for business purposes. You may not, however, be employed or operate your own company. You may not be paid by a source inside the U.S. It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between permissible business activities and illegal employment on a B-1 visa, but generally your agenda must be limited to making investments, buying goods, attending seminars or performing other temporary work for an employer located outside the U.S.

Unlike the B-1 visitor, the B-2 tourist may not engage in business-related activities at all. A condition of being admitted on a B-2 visa is that you are in fact a tourist.

The immigration law reforms of 1996 brought severe penalties for persons who use fraudulent documents or make misrepresentations, or who attempt entry to the U.S. without proper documentation. Individuals who commit one of these acts can be quickly deported from the U.S. without the right to a hearing. If this happens, you will not be able to request entry for five years, unless you are granted permission to withdraw your application (request) to enter the U.S. Accordingly, it is extremely important to understand the requirements of the visa classification you are requesting, and that you not make any misrepresentations of your intent or qualifications for a particular visa.

If you enter the U.S. with a B visa, the law requires that your intention must be to come only as a visitor. Tourists are given stays of six months and business visitors may stay as necessary up to a maximum of one year. Theoretically, you may leave the U.S. at the end of the six months, return the next day and be readmitted for another six months. Alternatively, when the six months are up, you can apply for an extension of stay without leaving, usually for another six months. However, when your travel history shows that you are spending most of your time in the U.S., INS will assume you have the intent to be more than just a temporary visitor. On this basis, you can be denied entry altogether, even though you do have a valid visa. Some people, thinking that they have found a loophole in the system, try to live in the U.S. permanently on a visitor's visa by merely taking brief trips outside the country every six months. Do not expect this tactic to work for very long. However, those who want to have vacation homes in the U.S. and live in them for about six months each year may do so legally.

 

For a full list of Visas available to Foreign Nationals please click here.