"I" Media Visa

Members of the foreign press traveling temporarily to the U.S. for an assignment will require an "I" Media Visa. This is a temporary nonimmigrant visa that qualified applicants can obtain quickly.

Projects eligible for the I visa must primarily disseminate information or news to a foreign audience. The primary audience must not be the United States, and the content must be news- or information-related.

Eligible recipients for the I visa can include members of a production company as well as on-air talent, as long as their role is generally associated with journalism. Certain documentary film crew members may qualify for the I visa, while proofreaders, researchers, set designers, etc., will require a different visa category to enter the United States. Actors involved in recreations or similar projects will not qualify for the I visa; they are more appropriately categorized under the O-1B visa.

In line with the requirement that the content must be informational, various U.S. consular posts will assess whether the project is fundamentally informational and whether it is generally associated with the news-gathering process.

Sports reporting is considered an appropriate project for an I visa candidate. However, projects depicting recreations or staged events, even if unscripted (e.g., reality TV), are not suitable for the I media visa.

I visas are typically issued for a period of five years. To learn more about the I media visa and to consult with one of our U.S. immigration lawyers, contact our office for a confidential consultation.

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