What Is a C1/D Visa? Transit and Crew Rules for the 29-Day Stay

A C1/D visa is a nonimmigrant U.S. visa that combines two classifications into a single stamp so that foreign crew members can transit through the United States and work aboard a commercial vessel or international aircraft. The C-1 part covers the trip to reach your ship or plane; the D part covers your actual duties as a crewmember once you’re aboard. Each entry allows a stay of up to 29 days, and the visa cannot be extended or changed to another status from inside the country.

What the C-1 and D Parts Each Cover

The C-1 side is transit. If you fly into a U.S. airport as a passenger to board a ship waiting in a different port, that leg falls under C-1. The D side is the crew work itself, performed aboard a commercial vessel or an international airline operating in U.S. waters or airspace.¹

Rather than issuing two separate documents, the State Department normally combines both into one C1/D stamp. Whether you receive the combined stamp or two separate visas depends on the reciprocity schedule for your country of citizenship, which the consular officer applies at the interview.²

Who Qualifies

Federal law defines an eligible crewmember as someone “serving in good faith” in a role “required for normal operation and service on board a vessel or aircraft,” who intends to land temporarily and leave with the vessel or another vessel or aircraft.³ That includes airline pilots and flight attendants, ship captains, engineers, deckhands, and onboard service staff such as cooks or cruise-line entertainers.

Two boundaries catch people off guard. Crew on recreational yachts used primarily for the owner’s pleasure do not qualify for a D visa; those workers need a B-1 visitor visa instead. And if a ship is in dry dock and you’re coming ashore specifically to work on repairs, the D visa doesn’t cover that work either. Crew who remain aboard during dry dock and keep performing their normal duties stay within their D classification.²

You also need to show a genuine employment relationship with a recognized carrier and a clear intent to leave the United States when your assignment ends. Consular officers look at property, ongoing employment, and family ties in your home country as evidence you’ll depart. Prior visa refusals, criminal history, or previous overstays can prevent approval.¹

How to Apply

Every applicant completes the DS-160 online nonimmigrant visa application, prints the confirmation page with the barcode, and pays the $185 non-refundable application fee before scheduling the interview.⁴⁵

As of October 1, 2025, the State Department eliminated most interview waivers for nonimmigrant visa applicants. The age-based exemptions that previously let applicants under 14 or over 79 skip the interview no longer apply. Nearly all C1/D applicants now attend an in-person interview. The narrow exceptions that remain cover diplomatic visas, certain official visas, and renewals of specific categories like B-1/B-2 and H-2A within 12 months of expiration; C1/D is not on that list.⁶

Bring to the interview:

A passport valid at least six months beyond your intended stay.
Your DS-160 confirmation page with the printed barcode.
A biometric passport photo meeting U.S. visa photo requirements.
A letter from your employer or the employer’s agent confirming your position and describing your duties. A Seafarer Identity Document or seaman’s book is not required but can support your case.²
Evidence of ties to your home country and of your travel itinerary showing you’ll leave on your vessel or another vessel.

If approved, the visa is typically placed in your passport and returned by mail within about a week, though times vary by embassy.

Entry and the 29-Day Stay

A visa in your passport doesn’t guarantee entry. When your vessel or aircraft arrives, a Customs and Border Protection officer conducts a separate inspection. The ship’s master or agent presents CBP Form I-95, the Crewman’s Landing Permit, for each crewmember seeking landing privileges.⁷ The CBP officer has discretion to grant or deny landing regardless of your visa.⁸

Once granted landing privileges, you can stay a maximum of 29 days in the aggregate per entry. That clock runs across every U.S. port your vessel touches during the same trip without visiting a foreign port in between.⁸

What You Cannot Do on a C1/D

The rules attached to those 29 days are strict:

No outside employment. You cannot work for a U.S. employer or perform any work beyond your crew duties.
No change of status. Federal law explicitly bars crewmembers admitted under the D classification from switching to another visa category while inside the United States.⁹
No extensions. The regulation makes crewmembers categorically ineligible for any extension of stay.⁸
No tourism or study as a purpose of the trip. Sightseeing beyond port areas or enrolling in coursework falls outside what this visa permits.

The visa also has no dependent category. Your spouse and unmarried minor children cannot travel on your C1/D or receive a derivative visa. If they want to visit you at a U.S. port, they apply separately for a B-2 visitor visa, which lets them accompany you but does not allow them to perform any vessel-related work.¹¹⁰ Family traveling for a different purpose, such as school or work, needs whichever visa matches that purpose.

What Happens If You Overstay

Because you can’t extend or change status, there is essentially no administrative fix for a missed vessel. The consequences stack:

Willfully remaining beyond your permitted days is a federal crime punishable by a fine, up to six months in prison, or both.¹¹

If your vessel has already left the United States and you haven’t departed, you can be removed without a removal hearing. The shipping company bears the cost of removal if it occurs within five years of your landing date. If your vessel is still in port, immigration officers can take you into custody without a warrant and return you to the ship.⁸

Unlawful presence also triggers reentry bars. More than 180 days of unlawful presence creates a three-year bar on returning after you leave; more than one year creates a ten-year bar, whether you departed voluntarily or were removed.¹²

A Few Narrow Exceptions

Longer Stays for Lightering Crew

Crewmembers who perform lightering — the ship-to-ship transfer of liquid cargo like crude oil or liquefied natural gas — qualify for the D-3 classification and can stay up to 180 days, because the operation takes longer than a normal port call. Someone transiting through the U.S. to join a lightering vessel can receive a C-4 visa for the same 180-day window.²

Medical Emergencies

If a crewmember is seriously ill or injured and needs hospitalization that could exceed the 29 days, the immigration authorities can grant parole to a designated medical facility for an initial period of up to 30 days. The district director controls its length, and parole ends when that period expires or when the medical purpose has been served. Medical parole is not an extension of D status and can be revoked if its conditions are violated.¹³

Labor Disputes

If a strike or lockout is active in the bargaining unit of the employer where you would work, you will be denied D crewmember status and refused a landing permit for service on U.S.-flagged vessels or U.S. air carriers during the dispute. Officers cannot parole you in for crew duties unless the Attorney General finds it necessary for national security.¹⁴

1
U.S. Department of State. Crewmember Visa
2
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). 9 FAM 402.8 Crew – D and C1/D Visas
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1101 Definitions
4
U.S. Department of State. DS-160 Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application
5
Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
6
U.S. Department of State. Interview Waiver Update September 18, 2025
7
Federal Register. Agency Information Collection Activities Extension Crewmans Landing Permit CBP Form I-95
8
eCFR. Part 252 Landing of Alien Crewmen
9
GovInfo. 8 USC 1258
10
Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). 9 FAM 402.2 Tourists and Business Visitors and Mexican Border Crossing Cards – B Visas and BCCs
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1282 Conditional Permits to Land Temporarily
12
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). 9 FAM 302.11 Ineligibility Based on Previous Removal
13
eCFR. Part 253 Parole of Alien Crewmen
14
GovInfo. 8 CFR 214.2 Special Requirements for Admission, Extension, and Maintenance of Status