B-2 visa

A B visa is one of a category of non-immigrant visas issued by the United States government to foreign citizens seeking entry for a temporary period. The two types of B visa are the B-1 visa, issued to those seeking entry for business purposes, and the B-2 visa, issued to those seeking entry for tourism or other non-business purposes. In practice, the two visa categories are usually combined together and issued as a "B-1/B-2 visa" valid for a temporary visit for either business or pleasure, or a combination of the two. Visitors from some countries do not need to obtain a visa for these purposes (see United States visas).

The cost of a B visa consists of the application fee, which all applicants must pay (currently 160 USD), and the issuance fee, which varies by nation based on reciprocity, and is only paid if the visa is approved.

As of October 2017, only nationals of the following countries have to pay the issuance fee.

Before 1994, there was no application fee, and only the issuance fee was charged, varying by nationality based on reciprocity. In 1994, the application fee was introduced for all applicants, in addition to the reciprocal issuance fee, to pay for the more costly machine-readable visas, which replaced the older stamped visas around that time. The application fee was initially 20 USD, and has increased several times since then.

As with other non-immigrant U.S. visas, a B-1/B-2 visa has a validity period (from 1 month to 10 years), allows for one, two or multiple entries into the U.S., and elicits a period of stay (maximum 6 months) recorded by the Customs and Border Protection officer at the port of entry on the individual's form I-94. The validity period determines how long the visa may be used to enter the U.S., while the period of stay determines how long the person may stay in the U.S. after each entry.

Validity periods per country are listed in the U.S. Department of State Visa Reciprocity Tables and vary from 1 month for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (with lower issuance fee), 1 year for Vietnam, 3 years for Russia, and 5 years for Pakistan, to 10 years for China, India, Israel, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, and most countries in the Americas and Europe. For some countries, longer validity periods are available for higher issuance fees or specific visa types (B-1 or B-2).

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