Learn the basics about visas that permit you to enter the U.S. for a short time and a specified purpose.
If you are a citizen of a foreign country who wants to come to the United States for a short period of time you must obtain a nonimmigrant visa. You must choose the specific purpose of your trip, and apply for a specialized visa authorizing that activity and no other. Each type of nonimmigrant visa is identified by a letter-number combination, as well as a name. You may already be familiar with the more popular types of nonimmigrant visas such as B-2 visitors, E-2 investors or F-1 students.
While nonimmigrant visas come in many varieties, they all have one major feature in common: they are temporary. If you travel to the United States on a nonimmigrant visa and the INS thinks you do not plan to go home, your visa will be taken away.
A nonimmigrant visa is something you can see and touch: it is a stamp placed on a page in your passport. A visa stamp cannot be issued inside the United States. You can obtain it only at a U.S. embassy or consulate in another country. Your nonimmigrant visa gives you certain privileges, the greatest of which is the right to request entry into the United States. Other privileges depend on the type of visa, but may include permission to work, study or invest money while in the United States.
Nonimmigrant visas differ from each other in the kinds of privileges they offer, as well as how long they last. As mentioned earlier, every nonimmigrant visa is issued with a specific purpose in mind.
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Keep in mind that the expiration date on your visa does not show how long you can stay in America once you arrive. It only indicates the period of time during which you have the right to enter the United States.
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Citizens of some countries can't get visas issued for the maximum period usually allowed by law. Countries whose citizens are frequently limited to visas with shorter expiration dates are:
Afghanistan* | Liberia* |
Albania | Libya |
Algeria | Madagascar |
Angola | Mali |
Bangladesh | Mauritania |
Barbados | Mexico |
Benin | Mozambique |
Bosnia-Herzegovina* | Nepal |
Brazil | Nicaragua |
Brunei | Niger |
Bulgaria | Poland |
Burundi | Romania |
Cape Verde | Rwanda |
Central African Republic | San Marino |
Chad | Sao Tome and Principe |
China | Senegal |
Congo* | Serbia |
Cuba* | Sierra Leone |
Cyprus | Slovakia |
Czech Republic | Somalia |
Djibouti | South Africa |
Equatorial Guinea | South Korea |
Ethiopia | Sudan |
Gabon | Syria |
Gambia | Tanzania |
Guinea | Uganda |
Guinea-Bissau | United Arab Emirates |
Indonesia | Yemen (Aden) |
Iran* | Zaire |
Laos | Zambia |
Latvia | Zimbabwe |
Note that citizens of countries marked with an asterisk will find it difficult to get a visa under any category.
Most visas permit multiple entries into the United States. However, some visas allow only one visit. If you hold such a visa, you may use it to enter the United States only once. When you leave, you can't return again with that same visa, even if time still remains before its expiration date.