There are several types of visas depending on the purpose or type of travel and in general visas to travel to the United States are divided in two main groups: immigrant visas (to immigrate and live in the U.S.) and non-immigrant visas (for temporary travel to the U.S.).
Immigrant visas are visas that allow you to travel to live permanently in the United States and are also known as “Green Card” or “Permanent Residence”, then the other type are the non-immigrant visas that are more commonly known just as visas in general. The non-immigrant visas don’t give you the right to stay permanently in the U.S., they are issued for the purpose of one or multiple temporary short trips to travel as a visitor to the United States. The B-2 tourist visitor visa is a type of non-immigrant visa and it is designed for tourist visitors that wish to travel for pleasure to go on tourist activities, like sightseeing, visiting friends and relatives. The B2 visitor visa is also used for the purpose of traveling to the U.S. to obtain the medical treatment. You are not supposed to work or get paid for services you provide with a B2 visa in the U.S.
It is essential to know that the citizens of most countries need the tourist visa in order to travel to the U.S. for tourism purposes, with the exception citizens from the countries members of the Visa Waiver Program that enjoy the benefit of traveling to the U.S. for short times without a visa. In general visa waiver citizens are not required to apply for a visa to travel to the United States. Visa Waiver Program only allows a visitor to stay in the U.S. for 3 months, but the B2 sometimes allows you to stay in the U.S. for up to 6 months, subject to approval by the officer at the U.S. port of admission. It is possible to file a petition for an extension of stay in the U.S. with a visitor visa for another 6 months in the case of a positive response when entering the country.
The Russian citizen Maxim from Novgorod applied for the visitor visa in April 2016 and now he shares the impressions of this process. “The whole process of getting the visitor visa took 5 days. Perhaps, it is one of the most quick and simple visa processes, which I was dealing with. 27/02/16 I thought why not to take a trip to the U.S.? 28/02/16 I filled out the form DS-160. 03/02/16 I was interviewed. 04/03/16 I took my passport with B-2 visa. It was so fast perhaps because I wasn’t interviewed in the U.S. Embassy in Russia. I know English well; there was no misunderstanding between me and the officer. The interview took about 10 minutes. Yes, there were many questions about work, family, education, where am I going to and to whom. The photographs were not needed; the photo in the electronic form approached. My advice: do not worry, smile, do not invent legends and be honest, if you are not asked the documents, you should insist to demonstrate them. Why I say this, because I was invited by my friend, an American; I have looked at the comments, the people said that it is better not to tell that you know someone in the U.S. or have friends, it’s like a straight road to the visa denial. In fact, it is important how you explain it, and how confident you seem when you’re talking with the officer. If you will be asked how long you know each other or how often and when was last time you saw each other, you can ask your friend to write a letter and make a copy of your passport. If this is the real intention, what problems can be? I wish you all good luck sincerely ;)”
To learn more about the process of obtaining a B-2 tourist visitor visa, visit our website http://www.usimmigrationapplication.org/visas/b2-tourist-visa
