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Nonimmigrant Visas

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Specialty Position E-3

FAQ

Immigrant Visas

American Citizen Services

visas for Cultural Exchange (Q)

Participants in an international cultural exchange program designed to provide practical training, employment and sharing of the participant’s native culture, require classification Q visas.

The training/employment must be approved in advance by the office United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the United States on the basis of a petition, form I-129Q, which must be filed by the U.S. sponsor.

A new petition must be filed each time a qualified employer wants to bring additional persons into the United States in Q status.

Qualifying for Q Status

Before a petition may be filed with the USCIS, the following criteria must be met:

The cultural exchange program:

The culture-sharing must take place in a school, museum, business, or other establishment where the public is exposed to aspects of a foreign culture as part of a structured program;
the cultural component must be an essential and integral part of the participant’s employment and training, and must be designed to exhibit the attitude, customs, history, heritage, philosophy and/or tradition of the alien’s country of nationality; and
your employment and training may not be independent of the cultural component.

The organization must demonstrate that it has the ability to conduct a responsible international cultural exchange program and has the financial ability to remunerate the participant and offer him/her wages and working conditions comparable to those accorded local domestic workers similarly employed.
The applicant must be at least 18 years of age, qualified to perform the stated service or labor or receive the specified type of training and have the ability to communicate effectively about his/her culture.

A Q visa petition is approved for the length of the program, or for fifteen months, whichever is shorter. The holder of a Q visa who has spent fifteen months in the United States may not be issued a visa or be readmitted under the Q visa classification unless he/she has resided and been physically present outside the United States for one year.

Your sponsor is required to file a petition, Form I-129 Q, on your behalf with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Your sponsor or employer should contact USCIS for further information on how to apply. It is the responsibility of the USCIS to determine whether the alien qualifies for the Q visa category. Any questions concerning eligibility should be addressed to the appropriate USCIS office. Please contact your sponsor or USCIS if you have questions about your petition. Consular officers at U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv have no role in, or access to, the petition process.

USCIS will send you or your attorney and your sponsor a Notice of Action (I-797) when it approves your petition. You may apply for a Q visa only after USCIS approves your petition. The Embassy will have no information about the status your petition until it has been approved.

Please remember that while the approval from USCIS grants an applicant legal status to work in the United States, you will still need to apply for a Q visa to enter the United States. You should apply for a visa and pay the processing fee for you and your family as you would for any other visa type. However, you must not apply until you have received an approved petition.
As a Q visa applicant, you must satisfy the consular officer that you have a residence abroad that you have no intention of abandoning.

Families of Q Visa Holders

There is no derivative visa category for spouses and children of the beneficiary of a Q petition. Spouses and/or children who wish to accompany the Q visa holder to the United States for the duration of the program are required to qualify for visas in their own right. If they wish to work, they require work visas; if they wish to study, student visas. Those who have no intention of working or studying, may apply for tourist (B-2) visas. If the spouse and/or child will not apply for visas at the same time as the principal applicant, they will be required to furnish a copy of the principal applicant's visa with their application.

Before the Interview

You may apply for a Q visa only after USCIS approves your petition. Before you appear at the Embassy for the interview for a Q visa, be sure that you have completed the following steps and have collected the following documents to bring to the interview:

You have scheduled your visa interview on the Internet at http://visainfo.us-visaservices.com/.
You have filled out and printed the required forms to bring to your interview:

DS-156 application form for all applicants (to be filled out at http://visainfo.us-visaservices.com/ when you schedule your interview)
DS-157 supplemental form for all male applicants age 16 to 45, as well as all applicants, male or female, born in Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan or Syria.

You have paid the processing fee at the post office and have a receipt to bring to your interview.
Your passport is valid and has at least one blank “Visa” page.
You have two photos that meet the photo requirements.
You have the original or a copy of the I-797 form from USCIS showing that the petition has been approved.
If you have lived in the United States, you have previous I-797, I-20, or DS-2019 forms or proof of previous study or work visa status.
You have previous passports with U.S. visas or a list of entries and exits from the Ministry of Interior to bring to your interview.

At the Interview

At the visa interview, the consular officer will ask you to present all your documents and passport and will ask about the work you intend to perform in the United States and your qualifications. Please be prepared to answer these questions honestly and thoroughly, and the consular officer in turn will make the decision about your eligibility based on your answers and the documents you present.

Sometimes it may be necessary for the consular officer to take a few days to review the details of your application and supporting documents. If this is the case, the officer will return your passport to you and the Embassy will call you as soon as possible for further questions or to issue your visa.