B1 visa symbol meaning.

What B1 means in 22 CFR 41.12

Section 41.12 of Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations is titled “Classification symbols”. It opens: “A nonimmigrant visa issued to an applicant within one of the classes described in this section shall bear an appropriate visa symbol to show its classification. The symbol shall be inserted in the space provided on the visa.” Table 1 to that section then lists each symbol with its class and the section of law. The row for B1 is:

The statute behind the symbol

The “section of law” column points to the Immigration and Nationality Act as codified at 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15), the definition of “immigrant”, which lists the classes of nonimmigrant aliens by letter. The definition begins: “The term “immigrant” means every alien except an alien who is within one of the following classes of nonimmigrant aliens”. B1 is in the group below.

The statute text for subparagraph (B) reads:

“an alien (other than one coming for the purpose of study or of performing skilled or unskilled labor or as a representative of foreign press, radio, film, or other foreign information media coming to engage in such vocation) having a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning and who is visiting the United States temporarily for business or temporarily for pleasure;”

Source: 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15), INA 101(a)(15)(B)

Reading the B1 row against its neighbours

In Table 1 the B1 row, the B2 row and the B1/B2 row all cite the same section of law, INA 101(a)(15)(B). The statute has one clause for visitors, and it covers someone “visiting the United States temporarily for business or temporarily for pleasure”. The regulation turns that single clause into three symbols: B1 for business, B2 for pleasure, and B1/B2 for both on one visa.

The statute clause also carries a carve-out in its opening parenthesis. It excludes “one coming for the purpose of study or of performing skilled or unskilled labor or as a representative of foreign press, radio, film, or other foreign information media coming to engage in such vocation”. The same table has separate rows for those other purposes, for example F1 (“Student in an Academic or Language Training Program”) and I (“Representative of Foreign Information Media, Spouse and Child”), each citing its own subparagraph.

The table gives only the name of the class and the section of law. It does not say what activities count as business, how long a stay may last, or how to apply. Those questions are answered elsewhere and decided by the agencies, so this page stops where the cited text stops.

What this page does not tell you

A visa symbol is a label. Table 1 says what each class is called and where the classification comes from in law. It says nothing about who qualifies, what evidence is needed, how long anyone may stay, whether work is allowed or what an application costs. Those answers sit in other regulations and in agency guidance and they change, so use the lookup above to read the label and then take the question to the State Department’s visa pages (travel.state.gov, which blocked automated reading on November 2, 2026, so we have not cited its contents) or a licensed immigration attorney.

For other codes seen on immigration paperwork, see the EAD category code lookup, which covers a different code set, and the I-94 number format checker.

Sources

Sources opened and read November 2, 2026.

• eCFR: 22 CFR 41.12 Classification symbols, Table 1 (current text; last amended 2023-09-12 per the eCFR version history) (read November 2, 2026)
• eCFR renderer API, the same section as machine-readable text (read November 2, 2026)
• Cornell Legal Information Institute: 8 U.S.C. 1101, definitions, subsection (a)(15) (read November 2, 2026)