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 fats 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: I am planning to sail from the Bahamas to the US with my private yacht in April 2009. I want to continue from Florida to New York, and from there back to Germany via the Azores. I would be in the US for a total of two months. On board will be seven persons including me. I would appreciate any kind of detailed information concerning admission requirements and formalities.

OUR ANSWER: Everyone on board, including you, will need the so-called B-2 visa. Apart from the regular application forms, you will have to provide evidence that your yacht is registered in your home country. During the process, you will have to attend an interview at your local US consulate (Berlin, Frankfurt or Munich), which has its own visa department. In case one of you is not a German citizen, he or she may have to provide additional documentation.

YOUR QUESTION: I am holding a non-immigration visa from in 1986, called B-1 B-2, issued as "INDEFINITELY." Did I get this right, is the visa still valid for me? Does it allow a maximum stay of 180 days? In case this is so, is it possible to have the visa transferred to a new passport?

OUR ANSWER: Unfortunately, according to a regulation of 1995, the visa is no longer valid. In your case, it expired in 1996, because B-visas with indefinite validity are no longer being issued. You would have to apply for a new B-visa. It depends on your individual circumstances whether it will be granted (back then, it was obligatory for all trips to the US, even short ones). Whether you may stay fro 180 days or less will be decided by the officials at the US border.

YOUR QUESTION: My daughter would like to do an internship at a hotel, the Ritz Charlton, in the US. What kind of visa does she need? Is she allowed to do a paid internship or what are her options?

OUR ANSWER: You'd best ask the Ritz Charlton group whether they have SEVIS approval for Trainee Visas (J-1). In that case, they would send your daughter form DS-2019 that she could use to apply for a visa at your local US consulate. If they don't, you would have to contact an appropriate exchange organization that organizes hotel internships and will issue you form DS-2019 for a fee. Find more information here.

YOUR QUESTION: An employee of our company is going to the US on business as a guest scientist / lecturer for 10 weeks. He wants his wife and his kid (2 years) to come along. Wife and kid, however, will only be tourists. What visas do I have to get for them? Wife and kid B-2, husband B-1?

OUR ANSWER: In case your employee is working as a guest researcher for the institution, he will have to apply for a J-1 visa. For a series of lectures and no further activities, he may apply for the B-1. His family can receive a B-2 derived from the J-1. In case he holds a B-1, they can travel under the Visa Waiver Program, provided they aren't nationals of a country excluded from the Visa Waiver Program.

YOUR QUESTION: I would like to go for an entire college/university degree in the US (3-4 years) and also live in the country after that. What type of visa do I need to be allowed to work while I'm a student (also off-campus)?

OUR ANSWER: As a student you need the F-1 visa, which you may obtain on the basis of form I-20 issued by the college/university. A work permit is only issued in very rare cases and is only possible if you have financial problems through no fault of your own, since you have to provide evidence that you have the financial means to pay for the entire duration of your stay.