Visitor ( B1 / B2 )

Visa (B1) for employment of personal/domestic employees (servants) in the U.S.

Reference: 9 FAM (22CFR) 41.31 N6.3 Personal/Domestic Employees, TL: VISA-371; 03-15-2002


1. Servants of U.S. citizens residing abroad, visiting or on temporary assignment in the U.S., who accompany or follow to join U.S. citizen employers to the U.S. may seek a B1 visa to continue employment if the employer-employee relationship existed prior to the commencement of the employer's visit to the U.S. and the following conditions exist.

The employee must:

• have a residence abroad which he or she has no intention of abandoning;
• have been employed abroad by the employer as a servant for at least six months prior to the date of the employer's admission to the U.S.; or
• in the alternative, the employer must show that while abroad the employer has regularly employed a servant in the same capacity as that intended for the applicant;
• demonstrate at least one year experience as a servant by producing statements from previous employers attesting to such experience; and
• possess an original contract to be presented at the port of entry, which contains the original signatures of both the employer and the employee

The U.S. citizen employer must:

•  be subject to frequent international transfers lasting two years or more as a condition of the job as confirmed by the employer's personnel office;
•  be returning to the U.S. for a stay of no more than four years;
•  be the only provider of employment to the servant;
• provide the employee free room and board and a round trip airfare as indicated under the terms of the employment contract.
  

The employment contract must:

• be signed and dated by the employer and employee;
• guarantee that the employer will, in addition to the provisions listed above, pay to the employee the minimum or prevailing wages, whichever is greater, for an eight hour workday;
•  reflect any other benefits normally required for U.S. servants in the area of employment;
• state that the employer and employee must furnish the other party at least two weeks termination notice.
  
  

2. The servant of a foreign national who seeks admission into or is already in the U.S. with B, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, O, P, or Q nonimmigrant status may seek a B1 visa to continue employment if the employer-employee relationship existed prior to the commencement of the employer's visit to the U.S. and the following conditions exist.

The employee must: 

• have a residence abroad which he or she has no intention of abandoning;
• demonstrate at least one year's experience as a servant;
• have been employed abroad by the employer as a servant for at least one year prior to the date of the employer's admission to the U.S.; or
• in the alternative, if the employee-employer relationship existed immediately prior to the time of visa application, the employer must show that the employer has regularly employed (either year-round or seasonally) a servant over a period of several years preceding the employee's B1 visa application.
  

The foreign national employer must:

• pay the employee's initial travel expenses to the U.S., and subsequently to the employer's onward assignment, or to the employee's residence abroad at the termination of the U.S. assignment;
• be the only provider of employment to the employee.
  

 
The employment contract must:

• be signed and dated by the employer and employee;
•  guarantee that the employer will, in addition to the provisions listed above, pay to the employee the minimum or prevailing wages, whichever is greater, for an eight hour workday;
•  reflect any other benefits normally required for U.S. servants in the area of employment;
•  state that the employer and employee must furnish the other party at least two weeks termination notice.
  

3. Servants of lawful permanent residents (LPRs), including conditional residents and LPRs who have filed an Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes (N-470), must qualify for an immigrant visa since U.S. law considers the employing LPR to be residing, and not merely temporarily present, in the U.S.



4. Source of payment to servants, the place where the payment is made or the location of the bank, is irrelevant.



5. All visitor visa applicants are presumed under U.S. law to be intending immigrants to, and public charges once in, the U.S. The burden of proof to overcome these presumptions of law and be eligible for a visa rests solely with the applicant. No third party can make any guarantee of visa eligibility. To overcome the presumption of immigrant intent, an applicant may show what social, economic or other ties will compel the applicant to depart the U.S. after a temporary stay. Leaving one's home country to find work to support a family may well show that an applicant's economic ties to that home country are weak and the applicant has little reason to resume a life at home. To overcome the presumption of being a public charge, applicants may wish to show past receipt of actual prevailing wages, capacity of employer to pay prevailing wages in the U.S. and adequate U.S. health care arrangements or insurance. Employers and employees are cautioned to learn and abide by relevant federal, state and local anti-discrimination, tax, immigration and labor laws. Following this guidance does NOT imply that any visa applicant will be subsequently found eligible for any visa.


6. The following forms and documents are necessary. A consular officer may request additional information deemed necessary to properly adjudicate a visa application.:

•  a completed and signed Nonimmigrant Visa application (DS-156/157) with photo;
•  a passport valid for travel to the United States with any plastic/leather cases removed. 
  (Note 1: A passport with a validity date at least six months beyond the applicant's intended period of stay in the United States is required for certain countries, unless country-specific agreements provide exemptions.  Korean and certain other country passports are exempt from this requirement.);
•  original receipt showing payment of $131 NIV application fee at Shinhan Bank;
•  signed and dated contract;
• evidence of employer's temporary assignment or visit to U.S.;
• evidence of U.S. citizen employer's job requiring frequent international transfers;
• evidence of employee's receipt of prevailing wages as a servant;
• evidence of employer's capacity to pay prevailing wages in U.S.;
• evidence of employee's health coverage in U.S.;
• any written explanation or other information from employer that will assist us in adjudicating this application.

Employees must obtain an appointment for a B1 interview at www.us-visaservices.com or by calling 003-08-131-420 (M-F, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM).  U.S. Mission personnel are NOT to accompany any visa applicant, employees included, to a visa interview. 

For more information, or to schedule an appointment, please go to USA VISA Information Services at http://www.us-visaservices.com. USA VISA Information Services is available 24 hours a day, and can be accessed from both inside and outside of Korea.

For nonimmigrant visa (NIV) inquiries (excluding E, H, L, O, P, Q visa inquiries), please e-mail us at : seoulniv@state.gov. For E, H, L, O, P, Q visa inquiries, please e-mail us at : seoulgoldteam@state.gov.

The applicant, not the U.S. Government, assumes full responsibility for all documents and materials submitted in connection with any consular or visa matter, and for qualifying for the required visa or travel document in time to meet the applicant's needs.

This is an official U.S. Government source of information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links or information does not imply endorsement of contents.

Updated  Feb 5, 2008