Visa & More: Frequently Asked Questions

Below, you will find a selection of visa questions we have been asked by our customers over the last few days. Please note that none of the answers below is an actual substitute for individual consulting and can only touch on the real issues. We would like to point out that we do not take responsibility for the correctness of this information.

If you need fast and individual information, our service team is there for you on the phones from Tuesday to Friday between 10am and 5pm. Find the phone number on our homepage and get our experts' advice on everything visa as quickly and as conveniently as possible. Please note that our phone number has changed due to legal requirements!

Any questions can also be submitted via our homepage at any time.

And as usual, for all questions concerning the green card lottery just call our service team.

YOUR QUESTION: One of our employees is planning to go to the US for four months to do research, he will receive a fee for his work. What category applies here?

OUR ANSWER: Your employee needs a J-1 visa. A B-visa wouldn't do, because it would not allow him to accept a fee or any kind of salary for his work in the US. We recommend contacting one of the responsible, US-government approved exchange organizations, which can provide with the necessary form DS-2019. In case he will be working at an institute in the US or a US university, it is possible that they will have so-called SEVIS approval. In that case, they could also provide him with form DS-2019. For the organization of the trip, please keep in mind that it can take several weeks to obtain the DS-2019 from an exchange organization.

YOUR QUESTION: I have been married to a US citizen since September 2006. We got married in the US and wanted to apply for immigration there. However, because my mother got seriously ill, I had to return to Germany. What do I have to do to be admitted back into the country?

OUR ANSWER: You may only re-enter the country after applying for the I-131 Advance Parole and having it approved. The problem is that processing may take several months. Without this authorization, you may not re-enter the US, as long as the green card application in the US is still pending. That is one of the many reasons we cannot recommend applying directly in the US, from a professional point of view.

YOUR QUESTION: I am currently a J-1 trainee in Boston, and I would like to continue working in the US, but for another company.

OUR ANSWER: As long as you don't have government funding for your stay which would make you ineligible for changing to another category, the other company can file the H-1B petition for you. That can be done April1, 2007 at the earliest. Your earliest employment start date would then be October 1, 2007. Minimum requirement is a bachelor's degree, a recognized credential evaluations provider must determine that it is equivalent with a bachelor's degree in the US (unless you have obtained the degree in the US). You should let the company know that the processing fee for USCIS is $3,000 and does not yet include the costs for the US lawyer that is mostly needed (starting at $3,000).

YOUR QUESTION: I am holding a B-visa and I'm spending around 5 months a year in my holiday home in Montana. My neighbor recently asked me whether I would like to take part in building homes for the poor a few days this summer, some sort of unpaid voluntary work. Am I allowed to help there at all? And am I allowed to "work" on my own land, e.g. chopping down trees for firewood, repair the roof or my car?

OUR ANSWER: Since you won't be paid or receive any other perks, and it is apparently only a day-to-day voluntary kind of work, that shouldn't be a problem. And unless you specifically tell the respective authorities or get the question during an interview, the other side probably won't address it either.

Visa & More Special: going to high school in the US

Since we got many questions from parents who want to send their children to host families and high schools in the US independent of an exchange organizations, we will address the issue in this edition's Special.

As a general rule, sending your children to an American high school is possible under either one of the following two conditions: either your children will be placed at an American high school by a an exchange organization approved by the US government. This organization will issue you form DS-2019, which you need to apply for a J-1 visa at your local US consulate. The downside is that unfortunately, you cannot choose the school or the host family.

Or you find a high school that has the approval of US Citizenship and Immigration Service's SEVIS system. This school will be authorized to issue your kid the necessary I-20 certificate. With this certificate, your kid may apply for the so-called F-1 visa. You can find a list of all approved schools here: www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/ApprovedSchools.pdf.

In case the school you picked is not on this list, or the exchange organization says it is unable to place students at that school, it is not possible for your kid to attend that specific school. Visitor visas with a maximum stay of 180 days are not a suitable alternative, because they don't allow your kid to attend school. The same applies to the 90-day stay under the Visa Waiver Program. In case you choose a public high school, it also has to be on the above mentioned list and the tuition fees must not be lower than those of private schools.

It is especially important to mention this, because if you do send your kid to a public high school that has lower fees than a private school, this can lead to a future entry ban, so it should be avoided at all costs.

To summarize, you could say that organizing a stay all by yourself, i.e. choosing the host family and the school, can only work if the requirements mentioned above are met. Therefore, you have to be prepared to change your plans in case the requirements cannot be met, at least if you are interested in making sure that everything goes smoothly with your kid's admission into the US and that they won't have any trouble with it in the future.