F2 visa symbol meaning.

What F2 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 F2 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”. F2 is in the group below.

Clause (ii) of subparagraph (F), the one the F2 row cites, reads:

“the alien spouse and minor children of any alien described in clause (i) if accompanying or following to join such an alien,”

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

Reading the F2 row against its neighbours

F2 is the dependent symbol in the F family. Its class name, “Spouse or Child of F1”, points back to the F1 row, and its section of law, INA 101(a)(15)(F)(ii), points to the second clause of the student subparagraph.

One difference is worth seeing side by side. The regulation’s class name says “Spouse or Child”. The statute clause says “the alien spouse and minor children”, and ties them to “any alien described in clause (i) if accompanying or following to join such an alien”. The table does not explain how the shorter class name relates to the statute’s “minor children”, so this page does not either.

There is no F2 entry for the commuter student class. The F3 row, which cites clause (iii), has no dependent symbol of its own in the table.

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)