P-1 / P-2 / P-3 / P-4Athletes, artists and entertainers

What the P visa is

Under the P classification, certain athletes, artists and entertainers may be authorized to come to the United States temporarily to perform services for an employer or a sponsor. The employer or sponsor must file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which reviews the services and decides your eligibility, before you may apply for a visa or seek admission. The State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) says every P-1, P-2 and P-3 applicant must be the beneficiary of a petition approved by USCIS before a visa is issued or, for people who do not need a visa, before admission.^[1,2]

P-1, P-2, P-3 and P-4: the official classes

P-1A: athletes, teams, coaches and ice skaters

Internationally recognized means a high level of achievement in a field, shown by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered, so that the achievement is renowned, leading or well-known in more than one country. An internationally recognized athlete or team must be coming to take part in a competition that has a distinguished reputation and requires an athlete or team with an international reputation. A team qualifies on the international recognition of the team as a unit, and each member gets P-1 classification based on the team's reputation.^[1,3]

P-1B: members of an entertainment group

P-1B is for a member of an entertainment group that has been established for at least 1 year and recognized internationally as outstanding in the discipline for a sustained and substantial period of time. At least 75 percent of the members must have had a sustained and substantial relationship with the group for at least 1 year and provide functions integral to its performance, and USCIS says the reputation of the group, not the individual achievements of its members or the acclaim of a particular production, is essential. Members may not perform separate and apart from the group; the FAM says an entertainer who will do so should apply for an O-1 separately from the rest of the group. Circus personnel and certain nationally recognized groups have exceptions, covered in the FAQ below.^[1,2,10]

P-2 and P-3: exchange programs and culturally unique programs

P-2 is for artists or entertainers, individually or as a group, performing under a reciprocal exchange program between one or more U.S. organizations (which may include a management organization) and one or more organizations in other countries, for the temporary exchange of artists and entertainers. The exchange must be similar in the caliber of the artists, in terms and conditions of employment such as length of employment, and in the number of people involved, although an individual can be exchanged for a group. The petition includes a copy of the formal exchange agreement, a statement from the sponsoring organization describing the exchange as it relates to this petition, evidence that an appropriate U.S. labor organization was involved in negotiating, or has concurred with, the exchange, and evidence that you and the U.S. artists in the exchange have comparable skills and similar terms and conditions of employment.^[1,2]

P-3 is for artists or entertainers, individually or as a group, coming to develop, interpret, represent, coach or teach a unique or traditional ethnic, folk, cultural, musical, theatrical or artistic performance or presentation, at a cultural event or events that will further the understanding or development of the art form. Culturally unique means a style of artistic expression, methodology or medium unique to a particular country, nation, society, class, ethnicity, religion, tribe or other group of persons. The program may be commercial or noncommercial; the FAM adds that it does not have to be sponsored by an educational, cultural or government agency and that a P-3 group does not have to have existed before the trip.^[1,2,11]

A P-3 petition includes either affidavits, testimonials or letters from recognized experts attesting to the authenticity of your or the group's skills in performing, presenting, coaching or teaching the unique or traditional art form, with each expert's credentials and the basis of their knowledge of those skills, or documentation that the performance is culturally unique, shown by reviews in newspapers, journals or other published materials. Either way, it also needs evidence that all of the performances or presentations will be culturally unique events.^[1,11]

Essential support personnel (P-1S, P-2S, P-3S)

An essential support person is a highly skilled, essential person whom USCIS determines to be an integral part of the performance of a P-1, P-2 or P-3 because they perform support services that cannot be readily performed by a U.S. worker and that are essential to the successful performance. They must have appropriate qualifications, critical knowledge of the specific services and experience providing that support to the P-1, P-2 or P-3. USCIS gives coaches, scouts, trainers, broadcasters, referees, linesmen, umpires and interpreters as examples of support personnel for athletes, and front office personnel, camera operators, lighting technicians and stage personnel for entertainers.^[1,3,10]

Support personnel need their own Form I-129, separate from the principal's petition, with a consultation from a labor organization with expertise in their skill area, a statement describing their prior essentiality, critical skills and experience with the principal, and a copy of the written contract or a summary of the oral agreement. They cannot be substituted at a consulate or port of entry; adding new support personnel takes a new petition. The dual-intent rule described under "P status and a green card" does not cover essential support personnel.^[1,2]

What goes with every P petition

Besides the evidence for your class, every P petition on Form I-129 includes copies of any written contracts between the petitioner and you or, if there is no written contract, a summary of the terms of the oral agreement; an explanation of the nature of the events or activities, their beginning and ending dates, and a copy of any itinerary, which must list the dates and locations of the performances if you will work in more than one location, such as on a tour; and a written consultation from a labor organization. The petition must name each beneficiary at filing, and up to 25 named beneficiaries can share one petition if they are members of a team or group, or if they will provide essential support to P-1, P-2 or P-3 beneficiaries performing in the same location and in the same occupation.^[1,2]

The labor organization's advisory opinion (consultation)

Apart from the exceptions below, consultation with an appropriate labor organization about the nature of the work and your qualifications is mandatory before USCIS can approve a P-1, P-2 or P-3 petition. The petitioner gets a written advisory opinion, signed by an authorized official of the organization, and files it with the petition; an unfavorable opinion must give the specific facts behind its conclusion. For P-1, P-3 and essential support petitions, the organization may instead send a letter of no objection; for P-2, the consultation is required to verify that a viable exchange program exists. Consultations are advisory and do not bind USCIS.^[1,2]

If the petitioner shows that no appropriate labor organization exists, USCIS decides on the evidence in the record. If USCIS decides a petition merits expeditious handling and no advisory opinion was submitted, it contacts the labor organization itself; the organization has 24 hours to respond, and if it does not, USCIS decides without the opinion. USCIS publishes an Address Index for I-129 O and P Consultation Letters, a list of known organizations that have agreed to provide them; it is not an exhaustive list.^[1,12]

From petition to visa

1. 1

   File Form I-129

   The petitioner files Form I-129 with the evidence and the consultation. It may not be filed more than one year before the actual need for your services, and it is decided at the appropriate USCIS service center, even in emergency situations.^[1,2]

2. 2

   USCIS decides

   If the petition is approved, the petitioner receives Form I-797, Notice of Action, showing your name, the classification and the petition's validity period. If it is approved after the date the petitioner said the services would begin, the validity period generally starts on the approval date. A denied petition may be appealed, but there is no appeal from a decision denying an extension of stay or a change of status.^[1]

3. 3

   Visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate

   With the approval, you apply for a P visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate. The approval does not by itself establish that you are eligible for a visa, and the FAM tells consular officers to confirm at the interview that the facts in the petition are true. If you do not need a visa, you may present a copy of the approval notice at the port of entry.^[1,2,3,13]

4. 4

   Travel and entry

   Consulates may issue the visa up to 90 days before the start of status shown on Form I-797, but you can use it to apply for admission only starting 10 days before the approved period begins. You may be admitted for the petition's validity period plus up to 10 days before it begins and 10 days after it ends, but you may work only during the validity period. The visa cannot be valid for longer than the petition, and if the reciprocity schedule for your nationality sets a shorter validity, the shorter period applies.^[1,2]

Premium processing

The petitioner can request premium processing on Form I-907 for a P-1, P-2 or P-3 petition, and USCIS lists the P-1S, P-2S and P-3S support classifications as eligible too. USCIS then issues an approval, a denial, a request for evidence (RFE) or a notice of intent to deny (NOID) within 15 business days of receiving the form and fees. An RFE or NOID stops the clock, and a new 15-business-day period starts when USCIS receives the response; if USCIS misses the timeframe, it refunds the premium processing fee and keeps processing the case, but if it opens an investigation for fraud or misrepresentation it may keep the fee and not act within the timeframe.^[7,8]

How long you can stay

To continue or complete the same event or activity, the petitioner files Form I-129 to extend both the petition and your stay, with a statement explaining the reasons; the dates must be the same for both, and USCIS decides each request separately. You must be physically present in the U.S. when the extension is filed, and a petition extension generally can be filed only while the original petition is still valid. If you leave for business or personal reasons while the requests are pending, the petitioner may ask USCIS to notify the consulate where you will apply for a visa.^[1,2]

If your authorized stay expires while an extension of stay that was filed on time is still pending, you may keep working for the same employer for up to 240 days from the date your stay expired, under the same conditions and limits as before. If USCIS denies the extension before then, this work authorization ends automatically when you are notified of the denial.^[4]

Working, changing employers and changes to the petition

You may work only for the petitioner through whom you got P status. To work for more than one employer in the same period, each employer must file its own petition, unless a U.S. agent files one petition for all of them. A person or company in business as an agent can do that as the representative of both the employers and you if the petition includes a complete itinerary giving the dates of each engagement, the names and addresses of the actual employers, and the names and addresses of the venues where you will perform. To change employers or sponsors, the new employer or sponsor must file both a petition and a request to extend your stay, and you may not start working for the new employer or sponsor until both are approved.^[1,4]

Professional P-1 athletes have a special rule: if you are traded from one organization to another, your employment authorization automatically continues for 30 days after the new organization acquires you, and the new organization is expected to file a new petition in that time. If it files within 30 days, you are considered in valid P-1 status and may keep working until the petition is decided; if it does not file in time, or the new petition is denied, employment authorization ends.^[1,3]

Any material change in the terms and conditions of employment or in your eligibility needs an amended petition, with fee, but the petitioner can add similar or comparable performances, engagements or competitions during the validity period without amending. The approval of an unexpired petition is automatically revoked if the petitioner, or the employer in a petition filed by an agent, goes out of business, files a written withdrawal of the petition, or notifies USCIS that you are no longer employed by the petitioner.^[1,2]

Spouse and children (P-4)

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 who accompany you or join you later can get P-4 status, with the same period of admission and limitations as you. They may attend school or college, but they may not work unless they qualify on their own for a status in which employment is, or can be, authorized, or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authorizes it. Family members already in the U.S. who are changing to or extending P-4 status may apply together, with fee, on Form I-539; a family member applying later for a P-4 visa to join you needs the consular officer to be satisfied that you are maintaining P status.^[1,2,3]

Fees

P status and a green card

The law behind P requires a residence abroad: every P visa applicant must show a residence abroad that they have no intention of abandoning, and the FAM says a P visa applicant is presumed to be an immigrant until showing the consular officer that they are entitled to P status.^[1,2]

Two steps toward a green card are not, by themselves, a reason to deny P status: the approval of a permanent labor certification or the filing of a preference petition for you is not a basis for denying a P petition, a request to extend it, or your admission, change of status or extension of stay. You may come temporarily as a P nonimmigrant, depart voluntarily at the end of your authorized stay and, at the same time, lawfully seek to become a permanent resident. This provision does not cover essential support personnel.^[1,2]

Common mistakes

USCIS P petition data

Processing time (Form I-129, P)

Recent policy changes

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