You may also wonder whether you can invite your friend on
a business visa. Again, the U.S. Embassy has broad discretion
to turn down such visas.
Typically, to succeed in obtaining a business visa you will
have to show that:
Wealth:
Your friend has a current business in her home country
valued, at a minimum, in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Business Link:
You have a business with a previously demonstrated
commitment to doing commerce with your friend’s home
country, and you and your firm have a previous record of
legitimate and significant commercial relations with your
friend and her firm.
Necessity to Travel:
Your business purpose cannot be achieved without bringing
your business associate to America.
Ties to the Community:
Even if you and your friend meet all of the qualifications
stated above, your friend must still demonstrate that she
has sufficiently strong "ties to the community".
Such as to make it highly likely that she will return home
when her visa expires. See Visitor
Visa (on this site) for an explanation of this
issue.
Penalties:
Note well: The The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) can exact severe penalties for any fraudulent
visa application. The penalty can be up to five years in
jail and $500,000 in fines. Such severe penalties are rarely
imposed, but if you make any application that the USCIS
deems to be fraudulent in any way, you will probably be
barred from ever inviting another person into the United
States on any type of visa.
