Q1 visa symbol meaning.

What Q1 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 Q1 is:

The statute behind the symbol

The “section of law” column points to the Immigration and Nationality Act. Most rows cite INA 101(a)(15), codified at 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15), the definition of “immigrant”, which lists the classes of nonimmigrant aliens by letter and begins: “The term “immigrant” means every alien except an alien who is within one of the following classes of nonimmigrant aliens”.

The Q1 row cites INA 101(a)(15)(Q)(i). In the text of the statute we read, subparagraph (Q) is a single paragraph and is not divided into numbered clauses. It reads:

“an alien having a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning who is coming temporarily (for a period not to exceed 15 months) to the United States as a participant in an international cultural exchange program approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the sharing of the history, culture, and traditions of the country of the alien’s nationality and who will be employed under the same wages and working conditions as domestic workers”

Source: INA 101(a)(15)(Q)

Reading the Q1 row against its neighbours

The citation in Table 1 is “(Q)(i)”, while the statute text on the page we read shows (Q) without a clause (i). We note this only as a difference in how the two sources are written. The table is the regulation’s own wording and we reproduce it as it stands.

Q1 is the only Q row in Table 1. The statute’s paragraph contains several elements: a residence abroad that the person has no intention of abandoning, a temporary stay of no more than 15 months, a program “approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security”, a purpose that includes practical training, employment and sharing history, culture and traditions, and employment “under the same wages and working conditions as domestic workers”.

What the symbol does not tell you is which programs have been approved, which organizations run them or how to apply. Those facts are held by the agencies and by program sponsors, not in Table 1.

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.

• M1 visa symbol meaning: M1, a visa symbol for a student class.

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)