Non-Immigrant Visas

Temporary visas, also called non-immigrant visas, allow people to enter the US temporarily. There are many non-immigrant visa categories, each for different purposes and for varying periods of validity. Some visas allow employment in the US, but not all. Each temporary visa class is designated by a different letter of the alphabet. Below is a brief summary of most of the non-immigrant visa classes.

A
Diplomats & their dependents (A-1), other government officials or employees & their dependents (A-2); attendants, servants and personal employees or close relatives (A-3).

B
Visitor for business (B-1) or pleasure (B-2).

C
Alien in transit (C-1); in transit to United Nations Headquarters (C-2) or government official in transit (C-3).

D
Crew member (ship or aircraft).

E
Treaty-trader (E-1) or Treaty-investor (E-2) & dependents.

F
Student in academic program (F-1) & dependents (F-2).

G
Government representative to international organization.

H
Temporary worker as a nurse (H-1A), in a specialty occupation (H-1B), in temporary agricultural work (H-2A), or as a trainee (H-3); and dependents (H-4).

I
Information media/press.

J
Exchange visitor (J-1) and dependents (J-2).

K
Fiancé of U.S. citizen living abroad (K-1) and children (K-2); spouse of U.S. citizen living abroad (K-3) and children (K-4).

L
Intracompany transferee visa for executives (L-1A), managers (L-1A) and specialized knowledge workers (L-1B), and their dependents (L-2).

M
Student in vocational program (M-1) & dependents (M-2).

N
Relatives of employees of International Organizations.

O
Individuals of extraordinary ability in certain areas (O-1), accompanying member (O-2), & dependents (O-3).

P
Artist/athlete/performer of international recognition (P-1), in reciprocal exchange program (P-2), or culturally unique (P-3), & dependents (P-4).

Q
Participant in international cultural exchange program (Q-1); Irish Peace Process Program Participant (Q-2).

R
Religious worker (R-1) & dependents (R-2).

S
People who provide information or other assistance to U.S. law enforcement agencies.

T
Human trafficking victims who cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of human trafficking.

TN
Professionals (TN) and their dependents (TD) under NAFTA.

U
Victims of criminal activities such as rape, torture, trafficking, incest, domestic violence, prostitution, etc.

V
Spouse (V-1) and unmarried children (V-2 or V-3) of permanent residents who have been waiting (either in the U.S. or outside the U.S.) for permanent residence for three years or more under the family based second preference classification who filed by December 21, 2000.

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This is a brief introduction to some of the non-immigrant visas available in the United States. For more information on non-immigrant visas, labor certifications, work permits and permanent resident visas ("green cards"), please contact:

The Law Offices of Danielle Homant
Telephone: (619) 235-8811
E-mail: danielle@homantlaw.com