What You Should Know About Getting a Visa for Political Reasons

If you hope to come to this country legally but are not a citizen, there are different ways to do that. You will need a visa, and there are various ones for which you can apply.

You might hire a spouse visa attorney if you need some legal help bringing your significant other into the country, but they are not a native U.S. citizen. There are also political reasons you might want to enter America, though.

We will go over some of those reasons right now. We’ll also talk about how easy or difficult it can be to get a visa and enter America for a political purpose.

You’ll Need a Visa if You’re Visiting as a Diplomat

One of the more common reasons why foreign nationals need to enter the United States for politics is if the individual in question is a diplomat. They might have been sent by their nation as an envoy for one reason or another.

Envoys might come to the United States because they’re petitioning the U.S. government to release other individuals from their country who are being held prisoner here. The envoy may assert that some individual being held by the U.S. criminal justice system is actually a political prisoner and is being held illegally.

Think about the current situation with U.S. women’s basketball player Brittny Griner being held prisoner in Russia. American envoys who are being sent to Russia need visas to be there, though so far, their requests for her to be released have been rejected.

How Difficult is it for Foreign Diplomats to Get Temporary Visas?

An interview to ascertain the reason for their trip is a crucial part of the process if a foreign national wants to enter the U.S. for political reasons. That interview will take place with representatives of the U.S. government. Based on the answers this individual gives, the American government will decide whether it feels it’s appropriate to allow this person to visit the country.

Generally, it’s easier for individuals representing countries seen as being friendly toward America to get temporary visas to spend some time here. If they come from a country regarded as being hostile towards America, it can be tougher for that person to get a visa and enter the country legally.

Conditional visas are sometimes given to individuals who come from countries that have a poor record of relations with the U.S. Those visas might restrict the person’s movements while they are here.

The reason why America is reluctant to give temporary visas to individuals from countries that are unfriendly toward the U.S. should be fairly obvious. The American government might be worried that this person is a spy or has some other nefarious reason for wanting to be in the country.

There are other political reasons why a foreign national might need a temporary visa to be in the U.S., though, so let us look at another possible scenario that happens pretty often.

Diplomats Attending Summits

Another class of individuals from foreign nations who want to enter the country legally with a visa are diplomats who have been sent here to represent their countries as part of political summits. These individuals will try to get diplomatic visas.

It is usually not too difficult for these visitors to obtain the visas that they need. If this person has been in this country before, and they come from a nation seen as friendly toward the U.S., a simple interview and the proper paperwork should get them what they need.

As these people move around in this country, they are required to keep their diplomatic visas with them. If the police or someone representing another American law enforcement agency requests that visa, the person must hand it over immediately. They must also abide by all applicable laws and statutes while they are here in the U.S., or they could be stripped of their visa and sent back to their own country.

What Kind of Visas Do Political Visitors Usually Get?

There are two particular kinds of visas that are typically given to political visitors to the U.S. They are the A-1 and A-2 varieties.

You can get an A-1 if you are a visitor to the U.S. who is a head of state, a public minister, an ambassador, a carrier courier, or a career diplomat. You can also sometimes get an A-1 visa if you are the spouse of one of the individuals we just mentioned and you are visiting the country at the same time as your partner.

The A-2 visa is given to accredited officials who are representatives of a national government and that are traveling to America. Since that is a much more particular category of people, there are fewer A-2 visas than those of the A-1 variety that are handed out yearly.

A-2 visas usually come with much more rigid standards regarding what you can do with them. As someone in America holding an A-2 visa, you can only retain that visa for the extent of your stay. In other words, you give up that status as soon as you leave the country. Officials will demand that you return your physical documents at that time.

That is not always the case with A-1 visas. Someone who has an A-1 visa can sometimes retain it when they return to their own country, depending on the circumstances.

This article gives you some small insight into the visa system that exists for individuals visiting this country for political reasons. However, there are considerably more rules and regulations going into the process that we haven’t mentioned. 

If you plan to visit the U.S. from another country, and you need to obtain a political visa to do so, you’ll probably have to do some more research to figure out the best method to go about doing that. You can always contact a lawyer with expertise in this area if you feel you need one.