Q-1 International Cultural Exchange Visitor
Q-1 is for people taking part in an international cultural exchange programme approved by the Department of Homeland Security, sharing the history, culture and traditions of their home country with an American audience while receiving practical training and employment. It is employment-oriented, but the cultural element has to be an essential and integral part of the job, and the activity has to happen somewhere the American public will actually encounter it: a school, a museum, a business or a similar establishment.
- Срок
- Up to 15 months. After completing the programme you have 30 days to depart the United States.
- Продление
- There is no extension beyond the 15-month maximum. You must then spend one full year outside the United States before applying to participate in a Q cultural exchange programme again.
- Работа
- Yes, incident to status, for the petitioning employer within the approved cultural exchange programme only. Wages and conditions must be comparable to local workers. Outside employment is not permitted.
- Двойное намерение
- false - Q-1 is a single-intent category built around a temporary structured programme followed by a mandatory year abroad.
- Члены семьи
- None. The Q-1 classification has no derivative status for a spouse or children. Any family member wanting to come must qualify independently in another classification, which is the category's sharpest limitation.
- Путь к грин-карте
- No route at all through Q-1 itself, and the compulsory year abroad after 15 months makes continuity difficult. Anyone who wants to stay has to find an independent employment or family basis and, in practice, change or leave before the 15 months run out.
- Срок рассмотрения
- Regular Form I-129 adjudication runs several months; premium processing at $2,965 gives 15 business days. Consular waits have grown since the October 2025 rollback and the March 2026 addition of Q to expanded vetting, which matters because Q programmes run to fixed seasonal intakes.
Кто подходит
- People aged 18 or over participating in a DHS-approved international cultural exchange programme
- People qualified to perform the service, labour or training the programme involves
- People able to communicate effectively about the cultural attributes of their country to the American public
Требования
- Only a qualified employer administering a cultural exchange programme, or a designated agent it employs permanently in an executive or managerial capacity, may petition
- Form I-129 filed with the position description and evidence of an established international cultural exchange programme
- Evidence the cultural component is designed to exhibit or explain the attitude, customs, history, heritage, philosophy, traditions, arts, literature or language of the participant's country
- Evidence the activities take place in a school, museum, business or other establishment where the American public is exposed to the foreign culture as part of a structured programme
- The employer must have designated a qualified employee to administer the programme and liaise with USCIS
- The employer must be actively doing business in the United States
- The employer must offer wages and working conditions comparable to local workers similarly employed
- The employer must show financial ability to pay, through an annual report, business tax return or certified accountant's report
Как подать
- 1
Get accepted onto a DHS-approved international cultural exchange programme run by a qualified employer
- 2
The employer, or its designated executive or managerial agent, files Form I-129 with the position description
- 3
The employer submits brochures, curriculum or other material showing the cultural component and the public-facing setting
- 4
The employer evidences its financial ability with an annual report, tax return or accountant's report
- 5
Add Form I-907 premium processing at $2,965 where a season start date is fixed
- 6
Once approved, complete Form DS-160, pay the $205 MRV fee and interview in your country of nationality or residence
- 7
Set social media profiles to public, since Q applicants were added to online presence review on March 30, 2026
- 8
Diary the 15-month end date and the 30-day departure window
Сборы и формы
| Form I-129, Q petition | $1,015; $510 for a small employer of 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, or a nonprofit. Up to 25 beneficiaries per petition |
| Asylum Program Fee on Form I-129 | $600 regular petitioner, $300 small employer, $0 nonprofit |
| Form I-907 premium processing | $2,965 |
| MRV nonimmigrant visa application fee, petition-based tier | $205 |
| Public Law 119-21 visa integrity fee | $250 statutory minimum; absent from the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026, so collection is unverified |
Что изменилось в 2025 и 2026 годах
- March 30, 2026: State expanded online presence review, announced March 25, 2026, to A-3, C-3 domestic workers, G-5, H-3, H-4 dependants of H-3, K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T and U applicants. This sits on top of the June 18, 2025 requirement for F, M and J applicants and the Dec. 15, 2025 extension to H-1B and H-4. Everyone in scope is told to set all social media profiles to public or open. Q is explicitly named in the March 2026 expansion, so Q applicants must set social media profiles to public.
- Oct. 1, 2025: the interview waiver rollback announced Sept. 18, 2025 took effect and superseded the July 25, 2025 guidance. Almost every nonimmigrant applicant now needs an in-person interview. The standing carve-outs are A-1, A-2, C-3 other than personal staff, G-1 through G-4, NATO-1 through NATO-6, TECRO E-1, diplomatic and official visas, and 12-month renewals of B-1/B-2, Mexican border crossing cards and H-2A. Waiver-eligible applicants must also apply in their country of nationality or residence, must never have been refused a visa unless overcome or waived, and must have no apparent ineligibility. The old under-14 and over-79 age exemptions were abolished. No further update has issued as of September 2026.
- July 15, 2026: State told nonimmigrant applicants to interview in their country of nationality or residence, or at the designated processing post if their country has no routine operations. Applying elsewhere is allowed but harder to qualify, the MRV fee is non-refundable and non-transferable, and waits are much longer. A, G, C-2, C-3, NATO and diplomatic applicants are exempt.
- Jan. 1, 2026: Presidential Proclamation 10998, signed Dec. 16, 2025, took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST and replaced Proclamation 10949 (signed June 4, 2025, effective June 9, 2025). It fully suspends visa issuance to nationals of 19 countries - Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, across every nonimmigrant and immigrant category. It only reaches people who were outside the United States and held no valid visa at 12:01 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2026; no earlier-issued visa was revoked under it. Q is outside the partial suspension list, so nationals of the 19 partially suspended countries can still apply for Q visas.
- July 4, 2025: Public Law 119-21 added non-waivable immigration surcharges on top of normal filing fees. The ones that touch nonimmigrants are the Form I-94 fee, held at $24 for FY 2026, the parole fee, adjusted to $1,020 for FY 2026, parolee EAD surcharges of $560 initial and $280 renewal, and a statutory visa integrity fee of at least $250 on nonimmigrant visa issuance. The $250 visa integrity fee is enacted but unverified as collected: it appears nowhere on the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026 and no implementing rule has published.
- Current USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055 edition 05/29/26: a Q Form I-129 is $1,015, or $510 for a small employer or nonprofit, plus the Asylum Program Fee of $600, $300 or $0.
- USCIS keeps its Q guidance in Policy Manual Volume 2, Part E. The USCIS Q cultural exchange page was last reviewed on Jan. 25, 2025.
Где чаще всего ошибаются
- Confusing Q-1 with J-1. J programmes are designated by the State Department; Q programmes are approved by DHS, and only Q is employment-oriented in this way.
- No dependants. Spouses and children have to qualify independently, which breaks up families on a 15-month posting.
- The 15 months cannot be extended, and the following year abroad is mandatory before a repeat.
- Programmes where the cultural element is incidental to the job rather than essential and integral.
- Applicants under 18, who are ineligible.
- Employers who cannot evidence financial ability or comparable wages.
- Missing the 30-day departure window at the end of the programme.
- Assuming Q time counts toward anything. It does not build a path to permanent residence.
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