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Business Visitors (B-1)
The business visitor classification permits foreign business travelers to temporarily enter the US for business-related purposes. These might include participation in conventions and conferences, conducting sales activity, meeting with US business people, and similar activities. While the scope of potential activities is in some respects broad, the key limitation is that individuals may not seek or engage in employment activities or perform skilled or unskilled labor for compensation. The distinctions between permissible and impermissible activities can be vague, however, and in uncertain situations a business person would be wise to seek guidance.
Eligibility
In order to obtain US entry as a business visitor, an individual must demonstrate that she:
- Maintains a residence in a foreign country which she has no intention of abandoning;
and
- Seeks admission for the sole purpose of engaging in a legitimate business activity.
The rules define "business" as a legitimate commercial or professional activity;
There are a number of factors which consular officers and immigration inspectors are particularly keen on substantiating, including that:
- The individual intends to leave the US at the end of her authorized stay (sometimes requiring a bond to be posted if not convinced);
- The individual has a passport or other permission ensuring that he may enter another country at the end of her authorized stay; and
- The individual maintains sufficient financial resources for the purpose of the visit and timely departure from the US.
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Permissible Activities
It is perhaps easier to identify what business visitor status does not permit as opposed to that which it does. It is clear that the performance of skilled or unskilled labor is not permitted, nor is entry permitted to for purposes of obtaining or engaging in employment. A business visitor may clearly not enter the US for the purpose of looking for a job.
Following is a noncomprehensive list of some of the general and specific activities which are expressly permitted by regulation or administrative decision:
- Engaging in commercial transactions which do not involve employment, such as where a merchant takes orders for goods manufactured abroad;
- Consulting with business associates;
- Participating in scientific, educational, professional or business conventions, conferences, or seminars;
- Undertaking independent research;
- Participating in a professional sporting event where prize money is the only compensation;
- Employment as a jockey, trainer or groom, provided that the individuals are employed by an individual of the same nationality (who, one assumes, has some connection to the horse);
- Seeking investment for a business that would qualify the individual as a Treaty investor;
- Employment by certain individuals who will be employed on the Outer Continental Shelf;
- Installing, servicing, or repairing equipment purchased from a company outside the United States or training U.S. workers to perform those services;
- Employment of certain executives, managers and technicians of foreign-owned international airlines or to ferry aircraft abroad;
- Performing medical, professional or business clerkships without compensation for the purpose of receiving training, instruction and practical experience;
- Exhibiting at international fairs or exhibitions;
- Employment of truckers by a foreign employer for purposes of carrying merchandise in international commerce (conveyance of domestic loads is prohibited);
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Compensation
Business visitors may not receive a salary from a US source while engaging in otherwise permitted activities, but there are a number of forms of compensation that would pass muster. These include:
- An expense allowance or reimbursement for expenses incidental to the temporary stay which do not exceed actual reasonable expenses for travel, food, lodging, laundry and other related expenses; and
- Payment of an honorarium (in addition to travel expenses) for appearances at institutions of higher learning and their affiliates, or government research institutions, provided that the individual has received honoraria from no more than five such institutions within six months.
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Duration
Business visitors may be admitted for up to one year, initially, and may obtain extensions in six month increments without specific limitation. The business visitor may not, however, maintain indefinite residence by reentering the US every six months.
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Dependents/Employees
The spouse and minor children of business visitors may enter in B-2 status as visitors for pleasure. Domestic employees of business visitors may enter and maintain their employment for the duration of their principal's visit.
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Advantages Over Visa Waiver Pilot (VWP) Program
The VWP permits individuals from 27 countries to enter the US in order to pursue the activities of visitors for business or pleasure without first securing a visa from a US consulate. (Canadian citizens do not require either visas or passports if entering the US from Canada.) There are, however, a number of advantages to securing a business visitors visa even where VWP is available. These include:
- Admission for one year or more rather than ninety days, and the ability to secure extensions of stay without leaving the country;
- Eligibility to pursue change of status to a different nonimmigrant status or adjustment to permanent resident status;
- Significantly greater procedural rights to challenge an order of removal and to a hearing before an immigration judge, and subsequent appeal rights.
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Visa Waiver Pilot Program Countries
| Andorra |
Australia |
Austria |
Belgium |
Brunei |
Denmark |
Finland |
France |
Germany |
Iceland |
| Ireland |
Italy |
Japan |
Liechtenstein |
Luxembourg |
| Monaco |
Netherlands |
New Zealand |
Norway |
Portugal |
| San Marino |
Singapore |
Slovenia |
Spain |
Sweden |
| UK |
Uruguay |
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