Comment by themaninthedark | Hacker News Reader

Comment by themaninthedark | Hacker News Reader

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themaninthedark

It looks to me like they may have been in breach of their visa depending on the work they were doing:

A B-1 / B-2 visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows foreign nationals to travel to the United States temporarily for business (B-1), tourism (B-2), or a mix of both (B1/B2). https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/b-1-b-2-visi...

B1 Visa Subcategories and Special Cases

While the B-1 visa generally restricts employment and formal education, there are some exceptions under specific circumstances. These exceptions aren’t separate visa categories but annotations considered by the U.S. consular officers during the visitor visa application process.

Here’s a closer look at these special B-1 subcategories:

B-1 after-sales service visa: Companies selling equipment to the U.S. can leverage this visa to send assemblers for on-site service orders. Think of it as temporary technical support. These assemblers can perform tasks like installation, maintenance, and training, but the assembly work must be done by U.S. personnel.

B-1 in place of H-1B visa (temporary project visa): Some professionals might be eligible for a B-1 visa for temporary projects in specific scenarios. This option can be viable when an H-1B visa, typically used for specialty occupations, might be challenging to obtain.

B-1 instead of H-3 visa (short-term training): Under certain conditions, the B-1 category can be used for brief in-house training sessions or further employee education. It allows for skills development without needing a dedicated H-3 visa designed for trainee positions.

IMPORTANT! These B1 business visa exceptions have strict requirements. Working with an immigration service provider or lawyer is highly recommended to determine if a particular B-1 visa category fits your situation.

https://www.immigrationdirect.com/guides/b1-b2-visitor-visa/

From the friendly link, ICE itself says he did not violate his visa conditions in any way:

From statements made and queries in law enforcement databases, [redacted] has not violated his visa; however, the Atlanta Field Office Director has mandated [redacted] be presented as a Voluntary Departure. [Redacted] has accepted voluntary departure despite not violating his B1/B2 visa requirements.”

The Guardian offers no evidence for this. Just a vague claim of some doc leaked from someone. But even that text doesn’t seem credible. Why would it say “not violating his B1/B2 visa requirements”? Which is it? B1 is a business visa. B2 is for tourism. It doesn’t make sense to claim they aren’t violating the requirements of these two very different visas.

They're not very different visas; they're very often (always?) issued as B1/B2 visa.

Why would someone sent here by their company for work reasons have both?

They don't have "both", it's literally (usually) issued as single visa sticker whenever you apply for either.

You seem to try to make a bigger distinction between B1 and B2 than the US government does.

Are you saying the form you fill out doesn’t ask you the purpose of your visit?

"Purpose of your visit" in the context of a multi-entry visa with a ten year validity period, is a rather nebulous term.

I don't really remember, it's been 10y since I last had to fill out a DS-160, but I don't think so.

You probably will get asked about the purpose of your _first visit_ in the interview though.

Even setting that all aside, B1/B2 are _obviously_ very often combined together.

"I'm going for a conference, and then I'm going to do some sightseeing on the weekend" is something that, under some very strict and specific reading of the law, would require a B1/B2 visa for example.

If you want to be extremely strict in reading the law, you can't really attend a conference on a B1, and sightseeing would require a B2.

Right.

I don't trust the government and if they are in fact violating the law than I hope that there is recourse, I would bet however that there is a clause somewhere that says that they can rescind status if they like.

However The Guardian's evidence is a couple quotes from a leaked document, not a scan of the leaked document.

We do however learn the worker was from SFA: https://www.kedglobal.com/korean-smes/newsView/ked2022050900...

So probably not doing construction work as some of the claims and only arrived in June so not close to the start term of the B1/B2 6 mo allowed duration.

The B-1/B-2 visa is a very common visa type that allows both business and tourism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_visa

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