Effective immediately, the U.S. Department of State has implemented new visa reciprocity schedule changes allowing for the issuance of 10-year business, tourist, and student visas to Chinese citizens. The affected visa classifications are B, F, J, and M, and include the corresponding dependent visas for dependent family members. Previous validity periods were limited to 12 months.

For now, the Department of State confirms that the validity periods for all other types of visas for Chinese citizens remain as they were. For example, H-1B visas continue to be limited to 12 months, and L-1 visas continue to be limited to 24 months.

As always, Foster continues to follow changes in the visa reciprocity schedule and other news impacting visa availability and application procedures. Future updates will be made available via our firm’s website.