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Domestic Employees Visas

Domestic Employees Visas (B-1)

 Overview

Under U.S. immigration law, personal or domestic employees traveling to the U.S. to accompany or follow to join an employer may be issued a visitor (B-1) visa if the employer is:  

  1. A U.S. citizen having a permanent home or is stationed in a foreign country, who is visiting or is assigned to the United States temporarily; OR
  2. A foreign citizen in the United States on B, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, O, P, or Q nonimmigrant visa status.

Please note: a visa is not available to employees of persons who normally reside in the U.S. or will be returning to the U.S. permanently or indefinitely.  Individuals with legal permanent resident status in the United States (green card holders) are prohibited from obtaining nonimmigrant visas for their domestic employees.  There are no exceptions to this regulation.  

Applicants applying for a B-1 visa must demonstrate that they have strong family, social, economic or other ties to their place of residence to ensure that their stay in the U.S. will be temporary.  Meeting this legal requirement is typically difficult for many domestic helpers because they have already demonstrated a willingness to depart their original residence to seek contract employment in another country.  

Applying for a Visa

  1. Please follow this link to see how to apply for a non-immigrant visa: How to Apply for a Nonimmigrant Visa
  2. If you are a third country national (a non-Taiwan passport holder), please bring your employment approval letter and alien resident certificate issued by Taiwan government.  If you will return to Taiwan after your visit in the US is complete, please bring your Taiwan re-entry permit.
  3. Bring a copy of your employer's documentation for entering the U.S. (i.e. valid U.S. visa, Visa Waiver/Exempt country passport, or U.S. passport).

Personal/Domestic employees of U.S. Citizen Employer on Temporary Assignment in United States:

A. Personal or domestic employees who are accompanying or following to join U.S. citizen employers temporarily assigned to the United States must meet the following requirements:

  1. The employee has a residence abroad which he or she has no intention of abandoning;
  2. The employee has been employed abroad by the employer as a personal or domestic servant for at least six months prior to the date of the employer’s admission to the United States;

    Alternatively, the employer can demonstrate that he has regularly employed a domestic servant in the same capacity as that intended for the applicant;  The employee must then demonstrate at least one year of experience as a personal or domestic servant by producing statements from previous employers attesting to such experience; and
  3. The employee is in possession of an employment contract containing the original signatures of both the employer and the employee.  This contract must be presented at the port of entry.

B. The U.S. citizen employer must demonstrate that he or she is subject to frequent international transfers lasting two years or more as a condition of the job as confirmed by the employer’s personnel office and that he or she is returning to the United States for a stay of no more than four years;

C. The required employment contract must be signed and dated by the employer and employee and must stipulate that:

  1.  The employer will be the only provider of employment to the domestic employee and will provide the employee with free room and board and round trip airfare;
  2. The employee will receive the minimum or prevailing wages whichever is greater for an eight hour work-day;  
  3. The employment contract shall also reflect benefits normally required for U.S. domestic workers in the area of employment; and  
  4. The employer will give at least two weeks notice of his or her intent to terminate employment, and the employee need not give more than two weeks notice of intent to leave employment. 

Personal Employees of Foreign Nationals in Nonimmigrant Status:

A personal or domestic employee who accompanies or follows to join an employer who is seeking admission into, or is already in, the United States on B, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, O, P, or Q nonimmigrant status, must meet the following requirements:

A. The employee has a residence abroad which he or she has no intention of abandoning (regardless of the fact that the employer’s nonimmigrant status may not require demonstration of a residence abroad);

B. The employee can demonstrate at least one year’s experience as a personal or domestic employee;

C. The employee has been employed abroad by the employer as a personal or domestic employee for at least one year prior to the date of the employer’s admission to the United States; OR
The employee-employer relationship existed immediately prior to the time of visa application, and the employer can demonstrate that he or she has regularly employed (either year-round or seasonally) personal or domestic employees over a period of several years preceding the domestic employee’s visa application for a nonimmigrant B-1 visa; 

D. The employer and the employee have signed an employment contract which guarantees:

  1. The minimum or prevailing wages, whichever is greater;
  2. Free room and board;
  3. The employer will be the only provider of employment to the employee; and
  4. The employer must pay the employee’s initial travel expenses to the United States, and subsequently to the employer’s onward assignment, or to the employee’s country of normal residence at the termination of the assignment.
     

Minimum/Prevailing Wage

The Department of State considers prevailing wage statistics to most closely reflect a fair living wage for servants and personal employees, and instructs consular officers to rely upon these figures when determining whether employment contract provisions satisfy applicable prevailing wage requirements.  The Department of Labor maintains an Alien Labor Certification/Occupational Employment Survey (ALC-OES) database that breaks down prevailing wage statistics by occupation and metropolitan area.  This information is available on the web at www.flcdatacenter.com, click on search wizard, choose city and state, then select job code 37-2012.

The Level One hourly prevailing wage for July 2011 – June 2012 in the ALC-OES database for "Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners" is $8.46/hour in the Washington, D.C. area; $9.63/hour in the New York City area; $8.01/hour in the Miami area; $8.82/hour in the Chicago area; and $8.80/hour in the Los Angeles area.  Also note that the federal minimum wage effective July 2009 is $7.25 per hour.

The source of payment to a B-1 personal or domestic employee or the place where the payment is made or the location of the bank is not relevant. 

Important Notice 

As a personal or domestic employee seeking to come to the U.S. temporarily (on a B-1 Visitor Visa), before your interview, it is important that you review the Nonimmigrant Rights, Protections and Resources pamphlet on the Department of State webpage. 

Non-Immigriant Visa Category