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D / C-1/DCrewmember (ship or aircraft)

For crew who work on board a ship or aircraft in a job it needs to operate, and who land in the U.S. only temporarily as part of that work.

At a glance

How you apply
At a U.S. embassy or consulate, where the consular officer decides whether you meet the crewmember requirements. No employer petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) comes first, and you do not have to be employed as crew on the day you apply, but you can use the visa only if you are employed as a crewmember on the vessel or aircraft you arrive on High confidence
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1,2,3]
How long you can stay
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer decides when you arrive, at the officer's discretion. Shore leave: only while your vessel or aircraft is in the port of arrival or in U.S. ports it goes to directly without touching at a foreign port, up to 29 days in total, and only if the officer is satisfied that you will leave on the vessel you arrived on (or another aircraft of the same transportation line) and your passport is surrendered to the vessel's master for safekeeping. Landing to leave as crew on another vessel, or as a passenger by other transportation: within 29 days, and only if definite departure arrangements have been made and the officer has consented to your discharge from the vessel you arrived on. Landing to do ship-to-ship transfers of liquid cargo to or from vessels engaged in foreign trade (lightering): up to 180 days, leaving within that period on the same vessel or on another vessel or aircraft
Checked Oct 18, 2026[2,4]
Can family come
Not on a D visa: there is no dependent D classification. A spouse, child or other family member must qualify for another visa on their own, such as B-1/B-2; a spouse coming solely to accompany you is classifiable B-2. Many vessels do not allow family members to accompany crew while on duty
Checked Oct 18, 2026[2,5]
Extend or change status
Not through USCIS: a crewmember landed under the crew rules cannot get an extension of stay or a change to another nonimmigrant classification. For a change of status only, USCIS notes an exception if you are applying for T status or petitioning for U status (see below)
Checked Oct 18, 2026[4,6,7]
Visa fee
$185 per person application fee (the fee for nonimmigrant visas that are not petition-based), plus a visa issuance (reciprocity) fee if one applies to your nationality High confidence
Checked Oct 18, 2026[3]

What the D visa is

The D visa is for crewmembers (crewmen): people serving on board a ship (vessel) or aircraft who come to the U.S. as part of its crew and land only temporarily. Whether you qualify under the general rule or under the special rule for certain fishing vessels (paragraphs (D)(i) and (D)(ii) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, INA), you are issued the same D visa. A crewmember who will land temporarily solely to do lightering (ship-to-ship transfers of liquid cargo to or from another vessel engaged in foreign trade) as part of their crew duties, for up to 180 days, and then leave on the vessel they arrived on or on another vessel or aircraft, may be issued a D-3 visa (paragraph (D)(iii)).[2,8,9]

Who qualifies

The consular officer must find that each of these requirements is met.

  • You serve in good faith in a job required for the normal operation and service on board the vessel or aircraft. What counts is the function you perform, not whether the vessel's owners or a concessionaire employs you: State Department examples of people who may qualify include a beautician or lifeguard employed on a luxury liner and an electrician employed on a cable ship, and crewmember trainees can qualify too, for example on a training vessel. Someone employed in a job not required for normal operation and service, or employed or listed as a regular crewmember beyond the number normally required, is not classified as a crewman.[1,2,8]
  • You intend to land in the U.S. temporarily and solely in pursuit of your work as a crewmember. You do not have to be employed as crew when you apply for the visa, but you can use it only if, when you arrive, you are employed as a crewmember on the vessel or aircraft you arrive on. A seaman's book or Seafarer Identity Document (SID) is not required for the application, but case by case it may help show that you pursue a career as a crewmember.[2,8]
  • You intend to leave the U.S. with the vessel or aircraft you arrived on, or on some other vessel or aircraft. A vessel has departed only when it sails to a foreign port or place and clears it; going out to international waters and coming back to a U.S. port is not a departure, however far the vessel travels. So if you will work only on board vessels that do not travel to and clear a foreign port or place, you cannot qualify for D. The one exception is the Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) fishing-vessel rule described below: there, a crewmember is considered to have departed once they leave the territorial waters of Guam or the CNMI, whether or not they reach a foreign country before returning.[2,8]
  • You show the consular officer that you meet these requirements and that you have permission to enter some foreign country after your temporary landing in the U.S. Under section 214(b) of the INA, you are presumed to be an intending immigrant until you show the consular officer, when you apply for the visa, and the immigration officers, when you apply for admission, that you qualify for nonimmigrant status. A labor-dispute rule in section 214(f) of the INA can also bar D classification (see the questions below).[1,10]

Who usually needs a different visa

  • Passengers, contractors and shore-side repair workers. If you travel to the U.S. as a passenger on the vessel or aircraft, you are not eligible for a D visa and must qualify for a B-1 or some other visa. Contractors are not barred from D as such: the consular officer decides, for every D applicant, whether the service you will provide is required for the vessel's normal operation. Someone who comes on board to perform a contracted service or routine maintenance under an agreement between the vessel's owners and another person or company is not needed for the vessel's normal operation and service, even if the work keeps it in good repair; such workers may be issued a B-1 visa if otherwise eligible. D also does not cover workers coming to work on shore to repair the vessel while it is in dry dock; people doing repair work under warranty may instead be classifiable B-1 if otherwise eligible.[2]
  • Yacht crew and coasting officers. Crew who will serve on board a recreational yacht (one used primarily for pleasure by the owner or the owner's guests) and who can show a residence abroad they do not intend to abandon are classifiable B-1, whatever the yacht's country of registration; crew of a commercial vessel (one used primarily for commercial purposes, such as carrying passengers or cargo for payment) who meet the D requirements are classifiable D. A coasting officer, who temporarily fills in for an officer of a foreign vessel on home leave while the vessel remains in U.S. ports, is not qualified for a D visa and must be documented with a B-1 visa.[2,11]
  • Crew of fishing vessels based in the U.S. If a fishing vessel's home port or operating base is in the U.S., its crew cannot get a D visa, whatever the vessel's nationality, and would normally need an immigrant visa or a different nonimmigrant visa, with one exception (paragraph (D)(ii)): crew serving in a job required on board such a vessel who intend to land temporarily in Guam or the CNMI, solely as crewmembers, and to depart from there with the vessel they arrived on. An operating base is a place where the vessel regularly takes on supplies, where its cargo is sold, or where its owner or master does business; a port it enters only occasionally for supplies does not count. For this rule, American Samoa is not treated as part of the U.S., but crew of a vessel with its home port in American Samoa are still barred from D if the vessel has an operating base in a place that is part of the U.S. under the INA (which includes Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the CNMI).[2,8]

From visa to landing

  1. Visa at a U.S. consulate

    State Department guidance tells consular officers to normally issue a crewmember visa for the full validity and number of entries in the reciprocity schedule that applies to you. If you meet the requirements for both classifications, officers should issue a combined C-1/D visa whenever reciprocity allows, including to first-time crewmembers, because crew often travel to their next assignment or home by means other than their assigned vessel. If the C-1 and D schedules differ in validity or number of entries, you receive two separate visas, each for full validity.[2,12]

  2. Landing in the U.S.

    When your vessel or aircraft arrives, you stay on board (or at the airport) until an officer lets you land. You apply in person to a CBP officer, present whatever documents are required, and must show that you are not inadmissible and are clearly and beyond doubt entitled to land; the officer decides at their discretion. If you are allowed to land, you receive a copy of your Form I-95 (Crewman's Landing Permit) endorsed with the date and place and the type of conditional landing permit, unless you hold Form I-184 and are landed for shore leave. For shore leave, your passport is surrendered to the vessel's master for safekeeping.[4,13]

Limits after you land

A crewmember landed under the crew rules cannot get an extension of stay or a change to another nonimmigrant classification. USCIS lists crew members (D) among those who may not apply to extend their stay or to change status, and the Form I-129 instructions list a crewman (D) as not eligible to change status. For change of status, the USCIS page notes an exception for applying for T nonimmigrant status or petitioning for U nonimmigrant status.[4,6,7,14]

One switch is possible. If you were landed for shore leave and are still maintaining status, you may apply for a landing permit to leave as crew on another vessel, or as a passenger by other transportation. It is approved only if Form I-408, the application by the owner, agent, master or another listed operator of the vessel you arrived on to pay you off or discharge you, has been approved, and the master or agent of the vessel you will be transferred to shows that a specified position on that vessel has been authorized for you or that satisfactory arrangements have been completed for your repatriation. If it is approved, you receive a new Form I-95 for only the time your scheduled reshipment needs, up to 29 days from your landing. There is no appeal from the denial of a Form I-408.[4]

Fees

Visa fees from 22 CFR 22.1; USCIS fee from Form G-1055, edition 10/07/26
ItemAmountWho pays and when
Visa application fee (nonimmigrant visa that is not petition-based, such as D)$185 per personEach visa applicant
Separate C-1 and D visasTwo application feesVisa applicant, when the C-1 and D reciprocity schedules differ and two separate visas are printed
Visa issuance fee (reciprocity fee)Depends on your nationality (set on a reciprocal basis)Visa applicant, if one applies to your nationality
Form I-102, to replace a lost, stolen, mutilated or destroyed Form I-95 (crewman's landing permit)$560; the additional $24 Form I-94 fee does not applyThe person filing Form I-102, with the application to USCIS
High confidenceChecked Oct 18, 2026[2,3,13,15]

Recent policy changes

Recent policy changes

Official

Updates

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Answers come from our sourced database and your own timeline, sorted into fact, public data, inference and unknown. No AI model is used in this version, so questions outside what we cover get an honest "not covered".

Questions people ask

I am flying in as a passenger to join my ship. Which visa do I need?

A crewmember traveling to the U.S. as a passenger to join a vessel or aircraft is classifiable C-1, as a person in transit, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations limit C-1 admission to a 29-day period. A D visa can be issued together with a C-1 visa if you meet the requirements for both classifications. Employees of foreign airlines coming to join an aircraft for an onward international flight may also be documented as B-1 visitors, but work on solely domestic flights within the U.S. is not permitted in B-1 status.[2,11]

Can I apply for a green card from inside the U.S. after arriving as crew?

Generally not. Section 245(c) of the INA says adjustment of status does not apply to an alien crewman, other than a person with an approved petition as a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioner. The regulation likewise makes anyone who, on arrival in the U.S., was serving on board a vessel or aircraft, or was coming to join one to serve on it, ineligible to apply for adjustment of status (Form I-485), unless they establish eligibility under section 245(i) of the INA and meet that rule's other conditions. Whether an exception fits your history is a question an immigration attorney can answer.[16,17]

Can a strike or lockout affect a D visa?

It can. Under section 214(f) of the INA, you are not entitled to D status if you intend to land to perform service on board a vessel of the United States, or on an aircraft of an air carrier (both terms as defined in federal shipping and aviation law), during a labor dispute where there is a strike or lockout in the bargaining unit of the employer you will serve. This does not apply if your employer documents that you were its employee for at least 1 year before the strike or lawful lockout began, served as a qualified crewman for it at least once in each of 3 months during the 12 months before that date, and will continue to provide the same services. State Department guidance tells consular officers to request an advisory opinion before issuing a D visa for service during a strike or lockout, unless they find that you were employed for at least 1 year before the strike or lawful lockout began, served as a qualified crewmember for that employer at least once in each of 3 months during the 12 months before that date, and seek to keep serving as a crewmember to the same extent and on the same routes as before the strike.[2,10]

Related categories

Content last reviewed: Oct 18, 2026 · General information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. 1.22 CFR 41.41eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  2. 2.9 FAM 402.8 [REDACTED] CREW – D AND C1/D VISASU.S. Department of State (Foreign Affairs Manual) · USCIS Policy Manual · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  3. 3.22 CFR 22.1 - Schedule of fees for consular services (Department of State)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  4. 4.8 CFR 252.1eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  5. 5.9 FAM 402.1 OVERVIEW OF NIV CLASSIFICATIONSU.S. Department of State (Foreign Affairs Manual) · USCIS Policy Manual · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  6. 6.Extend Your Stay - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  7. 7.Change My Nonimmigrant Status - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  8. 8.8 U.S.C. 1101 (INA 101) - Definitions, incl. 101(a)(15)(E), (H), (L), 101(a)(44), 101(a)(45)U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Statute · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  9. 9.22 CFR 41.12eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  10. 10.8 U.S.C. 1184 (INA 214) - Admission of nonimmigrantsU.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Statute · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  11. 11.9 FAM 402.2 TOURISTS AND BUSINESS VISITORS AND MEXICAN BORDER CROSSING CARDS – B VISAS AND BCCSU.S. Department of State (Foreign Affairs Manual) · USCIS Policy Manual · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  12. 12.22 CFR 41.112 - Validity of visaeCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 12, 2026
  13. 13.8 CFR 106.2 - USCIS feeseCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  14. 14.Instructions for Form I-129 (edition 09/09/26)USCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  15. 15.Fee Schedule (Form G-1055) - USCISUSCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Oct 12, 2026
  16. 16.Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199: Adjustment of Status is a Matter of Discretion and Administrative GraceUSCIS · Agency page · Published May 21, 2026 · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  17. 17.8 CFR 245.1eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 18, 2026