B-1/B-2 Visa: Activities, DS-160, Fees, and Interview

A B-1/B-2 visa is the standard U.S. nonimmigrant visa for foreign nationals visiting the country temporarily for business, tourism, or medical treatment. B-1 covers business travel, B-2 covers leisure and medical trips, and consular officers routinely issue a combined B-1/B-2 stamp so a single trip can include both.¹ Approval turns on one thing above all: convincing a consular officer that you will leave when your authorized stay ends and can pay for the trip without working here.

What You Can Do on the Visa

The B-1 side lets you handle professional tasks in the United States as long as no U.S. employer pays you and no American job is being filled. Permitted activities include consulting with business associates, attending professional or scientific conferences, negotiating contracts, and settling a deceased person’s estate.¹ Your employer and paycheck stay abroad; you’re here on behalf of a foreign entity.

The B-2 side covers personal travel: vacations, visiting friends or relatives, attending social or cultural events, and getting medical treatment from American providers. Medical travelers should expect to bring more paperwork than other tourists: a diagnosis from a doctor at home explaining why U.S. treatment is needed, a letter from the American physician or hospital confirming they will treat you along with an estimate of duration and total cost, and proof that transportation, medical bills, and living expenses are covered.¹

What You Cannot Do

B-1/B-2 visitors cannot work for a U.S. employer, enroll in academic study for credit, or act as foreign press. The statute defining B-1 status explicitly excludes anyone “coming for the purpose of study or of performing skilled or unskilled labor.”² You also cannot start or manage a U.S. business, perform productive labor, or live in the country providing services for a religious or charitable organization. Some volunteer work, such as construction for a nonprofit, also crosses the line.

One trap worth knowing: if the officer admitted you on a B-2 specifically, you cannot do B-1 business activities, and vice versa. The combined B-1/B-2 stamp avoids the problem, which is why it’s the standard issuance.²

Overstaying carries consequences that follow you well beyond the current trip. More than 180 days but less than a year of unlawful presence, followed by voluntary departure, triggers a three-year bar on returning. A year or more triggers a ten-year bar. If you accumulate more than a year of unlawful presence, leave, and then reenter or try to reenter without authorization, you become permanently inadmissible. A waiver exists for the permanent bar, but only after ten years outside the country.³

Proving You’ll Go Home and Can Afford the Trip

Every applicant is presumed by law to be an intending immigrant until they prove otherwise. The consular officer must be satisfied that you have overcome this presumption before a visa can be issued.⁴ There is no appeal from a refusal, though you can reapply with stronger evidence.

Overcoming the presumption means showing strong ties to your home country: a job you plan to return to, property you own, family relationships, ongoing business obligations, or enrollment in an educational program. You need to show a residence abroad you have no intention of abandoning, and your planned dates in the United States should be specific and consistent with the trip’s purpose. Vague plans invite refusal.⁴

Financial self-sufficiency is the other half. You need concrete proof you can pay for the entire trip without working here: bank statements, an employment letter confirming your salary, tax returns, or documentation from a sponsor.¹

Filling Out the DS-160

The DS-160 is the online nonimmigrant visa application, submitted through the Consular Electronic Application Center.⁵ Before starting, gather your passport, travel itinerary if you have one, dates of your last five U.S. trips, and your employment and education history. The session times out if left idle, and the form is long, so keep everything to hand.

The form asks you to disclose every social media handle you’ve used on listed platforms over the past five years. If you’ve never used social media, you can select “None,” but providing false or incomplete information can lead to denial.⁶ Consular officers will not ask for passwords and won’t try to see private content; the information is used to verify identity and assess eligibility.

You also need a digital photograph taken within the last six months, showing a full-face view against a plain white or off-white background, with no glasses.⁷ Security questions cover criminal history, prior immigration violations, and previous visa denials. Review everything carefully before submitting; errors are hard to correct afterward. The system generates a confirmation page with a barcode. Save it. You’ll need it at the interview.

Fees

After submitting the DS-160, you pay the Machine Readable Visa fee of $185 through the approved payment portal.⁸ It is nonrefundable regardless of outcome, and you cannot schedule an interview without the receipt.

Some applicants owe an additional issuance fee if approved. This reciprocity fee varies by nationality and reflects agreements between the United States and individual countries. Look up your country in the State Department’s reciprocity tables before the interview so the amount doesn’t surprise you; it’s collected only on approval.⁹

Scheduling and the Interview

Wait times vary sharply by post. Some embassies have appointments within days, others have months-long backlogs. The State Department publishes estimated wait times for each embassy and consulate, updated regularly.¹⁰ Check it before booking flights.

Expedited appointments exist for genuine emergencies such as funerals, medical crises, or imminent school start dates. To request one, first submit the DS-160, pay the fee, and schedule the earliest available regular appointment; the consular section then decides whether to move you up, and you’ll need documentation of the urgency.¹⁰

Bring the DS-160 confirmation page, the fee receipt, your passport, and supporting documents showing your ties at home: employment letters, property records, bank statements, family documentation. Interviews are typically brief. Expect questions about the trip’s purpose, how long you plan to stay, and what brings you back home. Direct, honest answers help more than rehearsed ones.

Three outcomes are possible. Most often you get an immediate approval, or a refusal under Section 214(b) meaning the officer wasn’t convinced you’d leave. A 214(b) refusal isn’t permanent; you can reapply at any time with stronger evidence. The third possibility is administrative processing under Section 221(g), meaning the case needs further review or documentation before a decision.¹¹ Administrative processing can last from weeks to months, and the State Department advises waiting at least 180 days before inquiring unless you have emergency travel needs.¹⁰ If approved, your passport comes back with the visa foil inside.

Renewing Without an Interview

If you already hold a B-1/B-2 and are renewing, you may qualify for an interview waiver. As of October 1, 2025, the State Department allows waiver-eligible applicants to submit renewals without appearing in person if the prior visa was issued for full validity, the renewal is filed within 12 months of the prior visa’s expiration, and the applicant was at least 18 when the prior visa was issued.¹² You also have to apply in your country of nationality or usual residence and cannot have any prior refusals that weren’t overcome or waived.

Even if you meet every criterion, consular officers keep the authority to require an in-person interview case by case. The waiver is a convenience, not a right.¹²

At the U.S. Airport: The Visa Isn’t the Whole Story

A visa in your passport doesn’t guarantee entry. At the port of entry, a Customs and Border Protection officer conducts a separate inspection and makes the final call.¹³ Expect questions similar to the ones you answered at the consulate: purpose, length of stay, where you’ll be staying, how you’ll support yourself.

If admitted, you receive an I-94 arrival/departure record with a specific “admitted until” date. That date, not the expiration printed on your visa, controls how long you can legally stay. The visa expiration only sets how long you can use the visa to seek entry; the I-94 date is your departure deadline.¹³ Most travelers get an electronic I-94 they can pull up on CBP’s website. Check it after every entry. Errors happen, and finding one months later is far harder to fix.

Some travelers get sent to secondary inspection, a more detailed screening in a separate area. Reasons range from prior overstays to travel patterns, database hits, or random selection.¹⁴ Being referred doesn’t mean you’ll be denied; it means the officer needs more time or information.

Passport Validity

Your passport generally must be valid for at least six months beyond your intended stay. Citizens of certain countries are exempt under bilateral agreements and need only a passport valid through the planned stay; CBP publishes the exempt list.¹⁵ If your country isn’t exempt and your passport will expire within six months of your planned departure from the U.S., renew it before applying. A consular officer is unlikely to issue a visa on a passport that won’t meet entry requirements.

Do You Even Need This Visa?

Check whether your country participates in the Visa Waiver Program before starting an application. Citizens of participating countries can travel for business or tourism up to 90 days without a visa, provided they get an approved Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) before boarding.¹⁶ An ESTA costs $40.27 through CBP’s official portal.¹⁷

The tradeoffs matter. You cannot extend a VWP stay past 90 days under any circumstances, and you cannot change to another immigration status while here. Short trips to Canada or Mexico don’t reset the clock; the 90 days runs from initial admission and includes those side trips.¹⁶ If you need more than 90 days or might want to request an extension once you arrive, apply for the B-1/B-2 instead.

Some travelers from VWP countries are disqualified from using the program. Dual nationals of Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria must apply for a standard B-1/B-2 regardless of primary citizenship, as must anyone who has traveled to those countries (plus Libya, Somalia, or Yemen) on or after March 1, 2011. The same applies to VWP-country nationals who have traveled to Cuba on or after January 12, 2021.¹⁶

1
U.S. Department of State. Visitor Visa
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. B-1 Permissible Activities
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility
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U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual. 9 FAM 402.2 Tourists and Business Visitors and Mexican Border Crossing Cards – B Visas and BCCs
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U.S. Department of State. DS-160 Frequently Asked Questions
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U.S. Department of State. Frequently Asked Questions on Social Media Identifiers in the DS-160 and DS-260
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U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs. Photo Requirements
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U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs. Fees for Visa Services
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U.S. Department of State — Bureau of Consular Affairs. Fees and Reciprocity Tables
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U.S. Department of State. Visa Appointment Wait Times
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U.S. Department of State. Administrative Processing Information
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U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs. Interview Waiver Update September 18, 2025
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. For International Visitors
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Frequently Stopped for Questioning and Inspection When Clearing U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Six-Month Passport Validity Update
16
U.S. Department of State. Visa Waiver Program
17
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Official ESTA Application Website