B-1, H, L, O, P, Q

This page includes information for applicants applying for B-1 visas (for business travel) as well as those applying for H visas, L visas, O visas, P visas and Q visas.

Visas for Business Travel

The U.S. Consulate General in Casablanca is committed to facilitating business travel to the United States.  Generally, travel that qualifies for a business (B-1) visitor visa includes:

• Consultations with business associates;
  
• Attendance at a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or a conference on specific dates;
  
• Contract negotiations;
  
• Participation in short-term training.

If you are a professional who needs to travel to the United States, but no visa appointment is currently available in time to permit visa issuance prior to your urgent business travel needs, you may request an earlier appointment time below by sending an email to CasablancaBusiness@state.gov .  When requesting an expedited visa appointment via e-mail, you must include the following information:

• Intended date of travel
  
• Specific details of planned business activities in the U.S. including meeting dates, meeting topics, and contact information about the person you will be meeting in the U.S.
  
• A clear explanation of why it is important (that is, explain what is at stake) to your business or organization for your case to be expedited.
  
• Why you must undertake this trip rather than a colleague who already holds a valid business visa.

The information you provide will be reviewed and you may be granted an expedited interview appointment within the constraints of the Consulate’s workload.  If your request is approved, you will be notified of an appointment date and time via e-mail.  Please be advised that expedited appointments for business travel will only be granted to business travelers; their family members will not be eligible for expedited appointments related to business travel. Applicants who are granted visa receive expedited appointments should be prepared to document all claims made in their e-mail request for expedited service during their visa interview with the Consular Officer--including  letters or other documentation from their U.S. contacts.

IMPORTANT NOTE:   Please keep in mind that an expedited appointment does not guarantee the issuance of a visa.  In addition, expedited visa appointments have no impact on the time required security clearances or administrative procedures, which start after the interview and can take several weeks.  While these procedures affect a small number of applications, the time required to complete processing of such cases remains difficult to predict and is beyond the control of the Consulate.  Thus, it is important to make every effort to schedule a visa appointment as far in advance as possible for your business travel.

Temporary Workers (H, L, O, P, Q)

Types of Temporary Worker Visas
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides several categories of nonimmigrant visas for a person who wishes to work temporarily in the United States. If you want to work in the U.S. temporarily, under immigration law, you need a specific visa based on the purpose of your travel and type of work you will be doing. To learn more, please see Temporary Workers and Employers-Hiring a Foreign National for Short-Term Employment and Employer Information on the USCIS website (www.uscis.gov).
*There are annual numerical limits on some classifications, which are shown in parentheses.

• H-1B classification applies to persons in a specialty occupation which requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge requiring completion of a specific course of higher education. This classification requires a labor attestation issued by the Secretary of Labor (65,000). This classification also applies to Government-to-Government research and development, or co-production projects administered by the Department of Defense (100);
  H-1C classification applies to foreign nurses coming to perform nursing services in medically underserved areas for a temporary period up to three years. The Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 (NRDAA) has been reauthorized for an additional three years, and will expire on December 20, 2009.
• H-2A classification applies to temporary or seasonal agricultural workers;
• H-2B classification applies to temporary or seasonal nonagricultural workers. This classification requires a temporary labor certification issued by the Secretary of Labor (66,000);
• H-3 classification applies to trainees other than medical or academic. This classification also applies to practical training in the education of handicapped children (50);
• L classification applies to intra-company transferees who, within the three preceding years, have been employed abroad continuously for one year, and who will be employed by a branch, parent, affiliate, or subsidiary of that same employer in the U.S. in a managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge capacity;
• O-1 classification applies to persons who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or extraordinary achievements in the motion picture and television field;
• O-2 classification applies to persons accompanying an O-1 alien to assist in an artistic or athletic performance for a specific event or performance;
• P-1 classification applies to individual or team athletes, or members of an entertainment group that are internationally recognized (25,000);
• P-2 classification applies to artists or entertainers who will perform under a reciprocal exchange program;
• P-3 classification applies to artists or entertainers who perform under a program that is culturally unique (same as P-1); and
• Q-1 classification applies to participants in an international cultural exchange program for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the sharing of the history, culture, and traditions of the alien's home country.
  

Petitions
In order to be considered as a nonimmigrant under the above classifications the applicant's prospective employer or agent must file Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS). For more detailed information regarding filing the Form I-129, as well as requirements, please refer to the USCIS Temporary Workers webpage.  Important Note: It is very important for prospective employers to file the petition as soon as possible (but not more than 6 months before the proposed employment will begin) to provide adequate time for petition and subsequent visa processing. Should you need petition processing faster, see Premium Processing Service on USCIS website. The petition, Form I-129 must be approved by USCIS before the prospective employee can apply for a visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad. When the petition is approved, the employer or agent is sent a Notice of Action, Form I-797, the notification of petition approval. However, the I-797 is no longer needed for the visa applicant's interview, since petition approval is now verified in the Department of State's system called Petition Information Management Service (PIMS). In order to verify the petition approval, we will need your approved I-129 petition receipt number so please make sure to have this available. It should be noted that the approval of a petition shall not guarantee visa issuance to an applicant found to be ineligible under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Applying for a Visa
Applicants for temporary work visas should generally apply at the American Embassy or Consulate with jurisdiction over their place of permanent residence. Although visa applicants may apply at any U.S. consular office abroad, it may be more difficult to qualify for the visa outside the country of permanent residence. 

Required Documentation

• An application, Nonimmigrant Visa Application, Form DS-156, completed and signed. 
• A Supplemental Nonimmigrant Visa Application, Form DS-157 provides additional information about your travel plans. Submission of this completed form is required for all male applicants between 16-45 years of age. It is also required for all applicants from state sponsors of terrorism age 16 and over, irrespective of gender, without exception. You should know that a consular officer may require any nonimmigrant visa applicant to complete this form. 
• A passport valid for travel to the United States with a validity date of at least six months beyond the applicant's intended period of stay in the United States. If more than one person is included in the passport, each person desiring a visa must make an application.
• As part of the visa application process, an interview at the embassy consular section is required for almost all visa applicants. At the U.S. Consulate General in Casablanca, applicants for H visas, L visas, O visas and P visas do not need appointments and can come to the Consular Section Monday through Thursday between 8 am and 10 am, except for major holidays, with the required documentation for their interview. Q visas applicants do need appointments and can do so through this website.
• One (1) 2x2 photograph. See the required photo format explained in nonimmigrant photograph requirements .
  

Other Documentation
To schedule the interview appointment, you will need the receipt number that is printed on the approved Form I-129 petition. NOTE: During your interview, the consular officer will use the receipt number to verify the Form I-129 petition approval. Therefore, Form I-797 is no longer used to verify petition approval, and is no longer necessary for your visa interview. With the exception of the H-1 and L-1, applicants may also need to show proof of binding ties to a residence outside the United States which they have no intention of abandoning. It is impossible to specify the exact form the evidence should take since applicants' circumstances vary greatly.