Tourists
The tourist visa is a nonimmigrant visa for persons desiring to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1) or for pleasure or medical treatment (B-2). As examples, if the purpose for your planned travel is to consult with business associates, travel for a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or conference on specific dates, settle an estate, or negotiate a contract, or if the purpose of your planned travel is recreational in nature, including tourism, amusement, visits with friends or relatives, rest, medical treatment, and activities of a fraternal, social, or service nature, then you would apply for a tourist visa.
Applicants for temporary visitor visas must show that they qualify under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The presumption in the law is that every visitor visa applicant is an intending immigrant. Therefore, applicants must overcome this presumption by demonstrating that:
- The purpose of their trip is to enter the U.S. for business, pleasure, or medical treatment;
- That they plan to remain for a limited period of time;
- That they have funds to cover expenses in the United States;
- That they have a residence outside the U.S. as well as other binding ties which will insure their return abroad at the end of the visit. There is no specific list of criteria that constitutes binding ties, and it is up to each applicant to explain those ties. Binding ties generally refer to family, social, economic, and other ties.
