B1/B2 visitor visa

[nancee_stephen]

Dear friends,

Iam canadian PR. I have an offer from US company, it is work from home job. Once in a month i have to go to US for training and meeting. Iam not an employee of this US company, something like self employed. I have to work on the project and bill them. They do not have any canadian susidiary.

I attended the US visa interview and refused under 221(g) as the US company will be paying for me (for the training and meeting during my visit to US) , which is not allowable under B1/B2 visa. The visa officer has asked me to submit with updated travel plans.

Iam struck at this point and no idea how to proceed further.

Any advice and input would be highly appreciated.

[Bastad]

Dear friends,

Iam canadian PR. I have an offer from US company, it is work from home job. Once in a month i have to go to US for training and meeting. Iam not an employee of this US company, something like self employed. I have to work on the project and bill them. They do not have any canadian susidiary.

I attended the US visa interview and refused under 221(g) as the US company will be paying for me (for the training and meeting during my visit to US) , which is not allowable under B1/B2 visa. The visa officer has asked me to submit with updated travel plans.

Iam struck at this point and no idea how to proceed further.

Any advice and input would be highly appreciated.

I'm assuming here that your country of citizenship is NOT one of those that allow visa-free entry to the US . . .

Visa regulations haven't kept up with the times. Your problem is that you're NOT an employee of this US company - so they shouldn't be paying for your training and expenses while in the US.

If you're NOT on their payroll (not their employee), but instead you're one of their suppliers (you supply them with your whatever you do), then you should BILL them for everything - and then they should pay for your services.

So - if you travel to the US for meetings and/or training, YOU should pay for everything (tickets, meals, etc.) and then bill them for whatever money you spent. The training wouldn't be part of the "company employee training", but you would attend training as one of their customers.

So in that case, B1/B2 would be appropriate - as it is the appropriate visa category to attend business meetings and short-term training.

Again - apply for B1/B2, and during your interview, you can truthfully and honestly answer the question: "what is the purpose of your visit?", "attend business meetings at my customer's office" or "attend training for Company X product Y" and for "who's paying for this?" the answer would be "myself".

If you then charge the company for your business expenses - that is part of your customer/client relationship w/ the company.