Foreign nationals travel to the United States for various purposes. Likewise, there are several types of US visas and based on the purpose of your travel, you need to apply for the right type of visa. While applying for a temporary non-immigrant visa, you will have to demonstrate that you seek to visit America temporarily and that you will not overstay your visa. Similarly, you must hold a valid passport and you must be capable to supporting yourself financially, while in America. At the same time, you need to remember that, with a visa, you can only travel to a US port of entry. At Customs, you will be interviewed and you will be granted entry into America only if you are admissible into the country. There are different types of US visas and following are five common types of US visas.
B-1 Visa – If you seek to visit America temporarily for business purposes, you can go for a B-1 visa. You can use this visa to travel to America, if you seek to attend conferences or if you seek to receive medical treatment in America. At the same time, people who wish to accompany family members who are undergoing medical treatment in America, also can travel to America on B-1 visas.
B-2 Visa – This visa is meant for people who seek to visit America and you can obtain a B-2 visa if you wish to visit America for tourism or to visit your friends or family members in America.
F-1 Visa – F-1 visas are for international students and these visas are offered through academic institutions in America. If you wish to study in America, you need to obtain an F-1 visa. An F-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa that will permit you to stay in America until you complete your course. In certain cases, F-1 students will be permitted to work while they study in America.
K-1 Visa – K-1 visas are for the direct fiancé(e)s of US citizens and K-2 visas are for the children of the K-1 fiancé(e)s. If you are a US citizen, you may sponsor your fiancé(e) for a K-1 visa and bring him/her to the United States. But this visa will be valid only for 90 days and you need to get married to your fiancé(e) within 90 days and if you fail to do so, your fiancé(e) cannot remain in America and he/she will be required to leave the country, at the end of the 90 day period.
H-1B Visa – H-1B visas are non-immigrant visas and US employers can make use of these visas to employ non-immigrants in certain specialty occupations, in America. A foreign worker must be sponsored by a US employer for an H-1B visa and foreign workers cannot apply for H-1B visas for themselves. H-1B occupations include engineers, business managers, doctors, software programmers, architects, accountants and professors.