The B-1 Business Visitor Visa is available for those individuals who wish to enter the United States on a short-term basis to engage in legitimate business activities. The visitor may not be paid a salary or any other compensation from a source in the United States.
The regulations authorize B-1 visitors to stay up to one year in the U.S. In most cases, a shorter duration of stay is granted, such as 3 to 6 months. A B-1 visa can be renewed while in the United States for an additional period of time if there is a legitimate business reasons to extend the stay.
E-1 (Treaty Trader) Visa
The E-1 allows Employees of a foreign company or organization which conducts business in the United States to engage in “substantial trade.
To qualify for this visa, there are a number of prerequisites that must be met:
You must be a national of a country that maintains a treaty of navigation and commerce with the U.S.
The international trade between your home country and the U.S. must be “substantial”, meaning there is a significant amount of trade to ensure a continuing flow of international trade goods between the U.S. and the home country; or.
You must be employed in a supervisory or executive capacity, or possess highly specialized skills which are essential to the operation of the enterprise.
E-2 (Treaty Investors) Visa
The E-2 allows Employees of a foreign company or organization to come to the U.S. solely to develop and direct the operations of a business in which they have invested in, or are in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital.
To qualify for this visa, there are a number of prerequisites that must be met:
You must be a national of a country that maintains a treaty of navigation and commerce with the U.S.
The investment must be substantial, meaning it must be sufficient to ensure that there is sufficient capital to ensure that the contemplated business can be carried on.
An E-visa holder may stay in the U.S. for an indefinite period of time, provided the business activity remains ongoing. However, the E-Visa must be renewed from time to time in order to maintain the E-Visa status.
L-1 (Intra-Company Transferee) Visa
The L-1 visa was created to allow foreign companies to bring senior level managers or highly skilled to work in the United States for a temporary period of time. The prerequisites that must be met are:
The U.S. employer must be related to the foreign company.
The employee must have worked for at least one year out of the preceding three years for the foreign company.
The employee must be coming to serve as a manger, executive or in a specialized knowledge capacity.
The period of stay is for an initial period of three years. There is a seven year maximum period for managers and executives. Specialized knowledge workers may stay for a maximum period of five years.
