A variety of visas are relevant to the FDI process in the United States . Non-U.S.citizens, or aliens, seeking to enter and remain in the United States temporarily are known as non-immigrants. Such persons are admitted for a temporary period of time and an expressed purpose. There are 24 major non-immigrant categories and 70 specific types of non-immigrant visas. Only a few of these non-immigrant visa categories are relevant to international businesses and investors as follows:

• B-1 Business Visa and Combined B-1/B-2 Business and Visitor’s Visa. Issued for short stays for business or pleasure, these visas accounted for 52.3 percent of the total visas issued in 2006.Visitors in these classes of admission are generally granted stays of 90 days (VWP) or up to 1 year.
• H-1B Specialty Occupation Visa and H-2B Non-agricultural Temporary Workers Visa.These visas are frequently used by established U.S.-based businesses to hire temporary skilled and non-agricultural unskilled workers.
• L-1 Managerial/Executive Visa. This visa is granted to managers, executives, or employees with specialized knowledge who come to the United States to work for the same employer,subsidiary, or affiliate overseas. Although there is no general non-immigrant visa category for nonimmigrant investors,5 there are special visa categories authorized under bilateral treaties between the United States and specific foreign countries.
• E-1 Treaty Trader Visa.This visa focuses primarily on facilitating trade with the United States,but is also relevant to foreign companies with significant U.S. trade that are also looking to make a U.S.-based investment. To qualify, among other elements, the international trade associated with the firm must be “substantial” in the sense that there is a sizable and continuing volume of trade and the trade must be principally between the United States and the treaty country.
•  E-2 Treaty Investor Visa. This visa is aimed at entities looking to make an investment in the United States. Several specific investmentrelated requirements apply, including a requirement that the investment be substantial and sufficient to ensure the successful operation of the enterprise.

The E-1 Treaty Trader Visa and E-2 Treaty Investor Visa are available to citizens of 80 countries. The E-1 and the E-2 visas do not require a specific minimum capital investment,although the level of investment is relevant to the E-2 visa. Interestingly, the existence of these special treaty-based visas has not been widely publicized,although they are clearly described on the Department of State Web site In 2006, more than 8,000 E-1 visas were issued (including principal, spouse,and dependents), as well as more than 29,000 E-2 visas (also including principal, spouse, and dependents).

In addition, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows citizens of 27 countries to enter the United States without a visa as a visitor for business or pleasure for visits not to exceed 90 days . The program is designed to facilitate international travel and commerce and ease consular office workloads for those countries that have low visa refusal rates and that meet other security requirements designed to ensure that aliens traveling to the United States under VWP are not a threat to the United States.

Although VWP makes it considerably easier for an investor to make shortterm visits to the United States during the initiation or management of an investment, investors from VWP countries must apply for longer-term visas if they wish to work in the United States.

Source: the U.S. Department of Commerce