Spotlight on the B-1 Visa
Definition
General Permissible Activities
Procedure
Duration
Extension
Helpful Advice
Spotlight on the B-1 Visa
Purpose of the B-1 Visa Classification
- The B-1 Visa classification allows foreign visitors to enter the United States temporarily to engage in business related activities such as conventions, conferences and consultations, but not employment. Advantages of the B-1 Visa Classification - The B-1 Visa is simple and quick to obtain.
Disadvantages of the B-1 Visa Classification
- The B-1 Visa classification is a nebulous category that receives inconsistent and unreliable treatment from immigration officers.
- B-1 Visa Business Visitors may not engage in gainful employment in the United States.
Family
- Spouses and children under 21 may receive B-2 Visa status for same duration as the B-1 Visa Business Visitor.
Points of Interest
- The B-1 Visa is one of the most erratic categories. It is very unpredictable and very subjective. There are no bright line tests and it is not appropriate for long-term stays.
- Beginning June 26, 2005, travelers applying for admission under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) must be in possession of a machine-readable passport.
- All VWP countries must also produce passports with digital photography by October 26, 2005.
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Definition of B-1 Visa - Business Visitor
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and immigration regulations define a B-1 Visa Business Visitor as someone:
- With a residence in a foreign country that he or she has no intention of abandoning;
- Who is coming temporarily to the United States;
- For business purposes.
- B-1 Visa Business Visitors may not perform skilled or unskilled labor.
- The term "business" does not include local employment or labor for hire.
- B-1 Visa Business Visitors also may not develop news in the U.S. for foreign press, radio, film, or other foreign information media.
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General Permissible B-1 Visa Activities
B-1 Visas are reserved for individuals coming to the United States temporarily to conduct limited business activities such as:
- Contract negotiations
- Litigation
- Independent research
- Taking purchase orders
- Consultation with business associates
- Participation in conventions, conferences and seminars
- Other legitimate activities of a commercial or professional nature
Certain types of work activity may qualify for a B-1 Visa business visit if:
- The business visitor clearly intends to maintain a foreign residence and domicile;
- The principal place of business and the place where the profit predominantly accrues is in a foreign country;
- Each business entry is clearly temporary in character, even if the nature of the business activity itself is not temporary and may be long continued. Matter of Hira, 11 I. & N. Dec. 824 (BIA 1965, 1966; Atty. Gen. 1966).
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Procedure for B-1 Visa for Business Visitors
Step One: Application at U.S. Consulate
- Basic application package for a nonimmigrant visa:
- Form DS-156, Nonimmigrant Visa Application;
- Form DS-158, Contact Information and Work History for Nonimmigrant Visa Applicant;
- A valid, unexpired passport;
- Passport-type photograph; and
- Application fee, if any.
- Note that males between the age of 16 and 45 must also use Form DS-157.
- B-1 Visa applicants must satisfy the consular officer that:
- They intend to leave the United States at the end of the temporary stay
- They have permission to enter a foreign country at the end of the temporary stay
- They have made adequate financial arrangements to carry out the purpose of the visit and to depart from the United States afterwards
- Canadians
- Canadians enjoy special documentary waivers and do not require a visa for entry as a B-1 Business Visitor.
- Canadians need a passport only if coming from outside the Western Hemisphere.
- Visa Waiver Program
- Citizens of the following countries: Andorra, Australia, Austria, 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 may travel visa free under the Visa Waiver Program.
- For nationals of visa waiver countries, there is no need to obtain a visa at the U.S. consulate in their home country before coming to the U.S. as a business visitor.
- Travelers from the 27 designated Visa Waiver Countries are permitted to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days for business or pleasure using only a passport.
- Approximately 13 million visitors from Visa Waiver Countries enter the U.S. each year.
- Beginning June 26, 2005, officers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin enforcing requirements that travelers applying for admission under the (VWP) must be in possession of a machine-readable passport. VWP travelers arriving in the United States on that date without a machine-readable passport should not anticipate being granted one-time entry into the country.
Step Two: Inspection at U.S. Port of Entry
- Admission of B-1 Visa Business Visitor
- If the B-1 Visa is granted, or if the business visitor is visa exempt, the B-1 Visa Business Visitor may then be admitted to the United States by an immigration officer at a U.S. port of entry.
- While Canadians do not require a visa, they must bring appropriate proof of Canadian citizenship.
- Mexicans must present valid entry documents such as a passport and visa or Mexican Border Crossing Card (Form I-186 or I-586).
- All B-1 Visa Business Visitors must provide evidence that:
- The applicant seeks to enter for one of the listed activities and not for local labor
- The business is international with profits accruing mainly outside the United States
- Any remuneration comes from abroad
- Although a simple oral statement might do, the B-1 Visa applicant should be armed with a letter.
- Once admitted, a B-1 Visa Business Visitor may be issued an I-94, other times he or she may be simply allowed to enter the United States.
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Duration of B-1 Visa Status
A B-1 Visa Business visitor may be approved for up to one year, but many times the duration of status is simply for the period of that particular business trip.
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Extensions of B-1 Visas
Extensions of B-1 Visa status may be granted in increments of six months, and may be obtained through a CIS Service Center without leaving the U.S.
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Helpful Advice for B-1 Visa Business Visitors
- When a B-1 Visa business visitor applies for entry, she needs to have a visa (or qualify as visa exempt) and an employer letter describing the business activities in which she will be engaged during her temporary visit to the United States. The support letter must carefully describe the legitimate B-1 Visa activities, emphasizing that the client will not be engaged in ordinary employment in the U.S. and will not be paid by any US source.
- At the Port of Entry, the B-1 Visa applicant should expect to be asked:
- Where the goods in which she deals are manufactured, if applicable
- Where the profits from the business enterprise accrue
- How often he or she has been in the U.S. in the last twelve months AND
- how often she or he expects to be entering in the coming year.
Because the B-1 Visa is a nebulous category, expect some inconsistent results, which may require an application for a more structured category, such as an H-1B, L-1 or TN Visa.
- The Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA) have agreed that for some of the B-1 Visa activities, B-1 visa holders should be able to get social security cards, particularly as they may be subject to U.S. income tax and to the provisions of worker compensation and other employment laws.
- In order to issue the social security card, the SSA office will be looking for a consular annotation to the B-1 visa.
- The B-1 Visa holders eligible for the social security card annotation are:
- Personal or domestic servants of U.S. citizens, or of certain nonimmigrants
- Airline employees who are authorized to work and receive compensation in the United States and
- Visiting ministers on an evangelical tour who rely on offerings at evangelical meetings.
- B-1 Visa Business Visitors who are members of a religious denomination coming temporarily and solely to do missionary work in behalf of a religious denomination may be granted extensions of not more than one year each, provided that their work does not involve the selling of articles or the solicitation or acceptance of donations.
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Reviewed July 5, 2005
Andrew M. Wilson is an immigration attorney practicing in New York. He is a member of the Serotte Reich & Wilson, LLP firm, and can be reached at awilson@srwlawyers.com .
