Types of Non-Immigrant Visas
The following is a list of all non-immigrant visas:
A - Diplomats, officials and employees of foreign governments recognized by the United States coming to the United States for official business purposes
A-1 - Ambassadors, public ministers or career diplomats/officers and their immediate families
A-2 - Other accredited officials and employees of foreign governments and their immediate families
A-3 - Attendants, servants, personal employees and members of their immediate families
B - Temporary visitors to the United States
B-1 - Visitors for business
B-2 - Visitors for pleasure (tourists)
C – Persons in “immediate and continuous transit”. Persons entering the U.S. en route to another destination, e.g., businessmen from Guatemala on the way to St. Kitts through the U.S. or crewmen entering the U.S. to join a ship’s crew.
D - Crewmen, persons employed on vessels.
E –Traders and Investors
E-1 - Traders. Foreign nationals from countries with treaties with the U.S. coming to the U.S. to engage in substantial trade
E-2 - Investors. Foreign nationals from countries with treaties with the U.S. who have invested or are in the process of investing in a commercial enterprise in the U.S
F – Students coming for undergraduate, graduate and post graduate work at approved educational institutions, must be engaged in a full-time course of study
G – International Organization Employees
G-1 - Principal representative, staff and immediate family
G-2 - Other accredited representatives and their immediate families
G-3 - Persons who would be G-1/G-2 except for the fact that they come from countries with governments not recognized by the United States.
G-4 - Officers and employees of international organizations and their immediate families.
H – Temporary Workers
H-1b - Professionals in specialty occupations (those occupations which require four year college degree in a course of study related to the occupation)
H-2a – Temporary agricultural workers (seasonal workers)
H-2b – Skilled and unskilled workers (provided dearth of USCs and LPRs)
H-3 – Trainees. Persons coming to the U.S. to participate in an approved training program
H-4 – Accompanying family members (spouse and children)
I – Representatives of the Media. Bona fide representatives of foreign (have their home office abroad) press, radio, film or other information media entering solely to carry out their job duties
J – Exchange Visitors. Used by students, scholars, medical interns, and business trainees in U.S. government approved programs to gain experience in their respective fields. Some holders of J-1 visas are subject to a two year home residence requirement at the completion of their program.
K – Fiancees (and Spouses). Used to be known as the fiancee visa because it allowed fiancees of U.S. Citizens into the U.S. for the specific purpose of marrying only. While still allowing fiancee’s to enter the United States for purposes of marrying US citizens, the new K has been expanded to include spouses and minor, unmarried children of U.S. Citizens who have already filed immigrant petitions.
L – Intra-company Transferees
L-1a - Executive or Manager- Person who has worked (at least one year in the three years preceding the petition) or is working for a company in an executive or managerial capacity who is coming to the U.S. to continue working in the same capacity in the U.S. office
L-1b - Specialized Knowledge – Person being transferred to the U.S. branch of company to ply his specialized knowledge there
M – Vocational Students. Same as F-1 except at a vocational/non-academic institution.
N-G-4 Immediate Relatives and Special Immigrant NATO employees
O - Individuals with Extraordinary Abilities
O-1 - Person who “has extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics which has been demonstrated by sustained or international acclaim”
O-2 - Person accompanying O-1 with specific knowledge and skills critical to the O-1’s successful completion of his or her performance, event, happening.
O-3 - Spouses and children of O-1s and O-2s.
P - Extraordinary Athletes and Entertainers
P-1a - Athletes who perform at “an internationally recognized level of performance”
P-1b - Persons in an entertainment group (has been with group for at least one year) that has been recognized internationally
P-3 - Artist, entertainer who enters solely to perform, teach, or coach in a culturally unique program
P-4 - Spouses and children of above Ps
Q - Participants in an International Cultural Exchange Program. Persons entering the U.S. through an approved international cultural exchange program for the purpose of providing practical training, employment and sharing of the history, culture and traditions of the person’s nationality
R - Religious Worker. Ministers, persons working in a professional capacity in a religious vocation or occupation, and persons working for a religious organization in a religious vocation or occupation.
S - “Snitch”
S-1 - Person with critical information concerning a criminal organization or enterprise willing to supply this information to law enforcement or court and is deemed by the Attorney General to be essential to the prosecution of the criminal organization or enterprise.
S-2 - Person deemed by the Attorney General and Secretary of State to be a person with critical information concerning a terrorist organization who is willing to supply this information to federal law enforcement or federal court and has been (or will be placed) in danger as a result of informing.
TN – Canadian and Mexican Professionals. Similar to the H-1b, except that it is limited to Canadians and Mexicans, has no statutory limitation on the stay and generally covers a wider range of jobs.
T – Victims of trafficking into the United States
U – Victims of serious and violent crimes perpetrated in the United States
V – LPR Immediate Relatives who have been waiting. Allows spouses and minor unmarried children of LPRs who filed I-130 petitions on or before December 21, 2000 and have been waiting three or more years to obtain their green cards to enter the United States as non-immigrants, apply for work authorization, and wait for their priority dates to become current in the U.S., and apply for adjustment of status when the time comes. An unexpected tenderhearted provision, the V Visa is intended to reunite families in short order.