A new subcategory has been added to permit specialized trainers to enter the U.S. for a temporary period to train or provide knowledge to U.S. workers on proprietary techniques, skills, or know-how for industrial equipment, machinery or processes that have been acquired or sourced from a company outside of the United States in support of a qualifying project. The specialized trainer must possess unique knowledge that is not widely available in the United States and must not receive remuneration from a U.S. source.
In comparison to the B-1 provision for Commercial or Industrial workers who enter to perform after-sales or warranty services, less documentation of the initial contract providing for the sale of equipment with after-sales services and/or warranty work as well as less documentation of shipment of the equipment will be required for specialized trainers. However, further documentation of each specialized trainer’s unique knowledge not widely available in the United States will be required.
Please note, a B-1 issued for a specialized trainer must have the annotation “B-1 SPECIALIZED TRAINER.” It may be the case that some travelers will need to update current B-1 visas without annotations.
If you company is interested in inviting a specialized trainer to the United States, please contact us for further information.
