// QUESTION BANK · Pressure questions

"Do you plan to work in the US?" — how to answer

Direct answer: If it is the truth, answer "No" and anchor it with this trip's purpose and your return date; B1/B2 indeed does not permit employment or enrollment — but state the fact and stop, without volunteering a defense.

How is this question asked?

The U.S. Department of State publishes no official interview script; officers question freely around what they need to establish. These are the most common phrasings of this probe, collected from public interview accounts:

Do you plan to work in the US?
Do you intend to study while you're in the United States?
Will you look for a job during your stay?
Chinese-language equivalent at China posts: 你去了会打工吗?

What is the officer evaluating?

This is the 214(b) presumption asked to your face: the officer directly questions your intent. B1/B2 explicitly does not allow employment or enrollment (narrow recreational-course exceptions aside), so for the overwhelming majority of applicants the truthful answer is simply no. What is checked is not the word but its fit with the whole picture — purpose, itinerary, employment, family.

The common failure on this question is not the answer but the volume. Switching into defense mode ("Absolutely not! My whole family is here, I own an apartment…") upgrades a routine check into a psychological contest, and unsolicited guarantees earn nothing in the interview record. Short, steady, form-consistent — that is the entire skill of this question.

How should you structure the answer?

1. One word for the verdict
"No." Land it at conversational speed; this is a fact question, not an attitude test.
2. Anchor with purpose
"This is a tourism trip — I fly back on October 12." Purpose plus return date gives the "no" its scaffolding automatically.
3. Layer real long-term plans
If study is genuinely planned for later: "This trip is tourism; if I study in the future I'll apply for the proper student visa." Layered truth beats denial and cannot collide with records.
4. Don't expand the defense
No property lists, relative counts, or bank balances unless asked; if the officer wants the ties case, they will ask for it (next question). Unsolicited evidence stays in the folder.

Which answers most often go wrong?

Over-justifying: rapid-fire guarantees of return read as compensation — the posture itself suggests concealment.
Denying a real plan: preparing applications while denying any intent; test and application records resurface later as inconsistencies.
Jokes or counter-questions: "of course not, your wages are too low anyway" — interviews are recorded verbatim; banter is evidence too.
Answer-facts mismatch: "no work" paired with a six-month itinerary — long stays invite the next round of questions your answer must be able to cover.
"Maybe keep options open" as honesty: openness to opportunities sits precisely outside B1/B2's boundary — the one posture this question must never produce.

Sample answerFICTIONAL SAMPLE

Sample (fictional person, shown for structure — not a model answer): "No. I'm attending a trade show on October 8 — a B1 business trip, back in a week; my job is here and my company issued the dispatch letter."

Structure: verdict (no) → purpose and date → home employment anchor. Three parts, fifteen seconds; follow-ups, if any, will land on the letter or the itinerary — not on your attitude.

How do you stay consistent with your DS-160?

Check the DS-160's "Purpose of Trip": B1 business or B2 tourism/visit selections point the same way as a spoken "no"; if the form ever mentioned work/study (mis-entered), correct it before the interview rather than explain it at the window.

Stay length must fit the answer: a short trip plus "no" is the natural shape; multi-month stays need the funding and leave story ready.

With study- or work-visa history or plans: state the layers and make sure they are declared in the form's prior-visa and refusal fields.

Related DS-160 fields

Purpose of Trip to the U.S.Present Work / Education Status

How to practice this question

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What else do applicants ask?

Does being asked about working mean I'm suspected?

Not necessarily. Immigrant-intent screening is a routine component of every B1/B2 interview, and asking intent directly is a standard phrasing; the question alone implies no targeting. Treat it as a fact question — verdict, purpose, return date — rather than reading motives into it.

I want to study abroad later — what do I say now?

Layer the truth: this trip is a B1/B2 purpose (tourism, family visit, business), and any future study would be a separate, properly-filed student application. Concealing a plan that leaves traces (tests, applications) costs far more than stating it; the layered statement is itself the credible form.

Can I joke to lighten the mood?

Not recommended. The interview is a recorded formal Q&A; jokes and rhetorical questions are taken literally. The upside of "easing the mood" does not exist, while the downside of being misunderstood is real. Calm, short, truthful is the optimum for the whole window.

What are the official numbers?

Every figure below was read from an official U.S. government page, not from experience or an agency's summary. Fees and rules change — before you actually pay or file, check the primary pages listed under the sources section. One row deliberately carries no number: the State Department has never published a fixed duration for administrative processing.

Item	Official value	Source
Non-petition-based visa application fee (includes B-1/B-2, F, J, M), non-refundable	US$185	State Dept. fee schedule
Petition-based visa application fee (H, L, O, P, Q, R)	US$205	State Dept. fee schedule
E treaty trader / investor visa fee	US$315	State Dept. fee schedule
DHS visa integrity fee — created by statute, not yet collected by DHS; do not add it to the fee above	US$250	PL 119-21 §100007
Official estimate for completing one DS-160	90 minutes	CEAC DS-160 instructions
Passport validity required beyond your intended stay	6 months	State Dept. visitor visa page
Window to submit documents after a 221(g) refusal (from the refusal date)	1 year	State Dept. administrative processing
How long administrative processing takes	no fixed time published; varies by case	State Dept. administrative processing
EVUS enrolment validity (or until the passport/visa expires, whichever is first)	2 years	EVUS
Re-entry bar after departing with more than 180 days of unlawful presence	3 years	8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(9)(B)
Re-entry bar after departing with 1 year or more of unlawful presence	10 years	8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(9)(B)

Every figure above was last checked against its source on 2026-08-27

Where are the official sources?

These are the primary sources this site cites — U.S. government pages and the statute text itself. Each one was opened and confirmed reachable on the date shown below. Wherever this site and an official page disagree, the official page is the one that counts.

U.S. Department of State — Visitor Visa (B-1/B-2)The official statement of what B-1/B-2 does and does not permit, the application steps, and required documents.
U.S. Department of State — Fees for Visa ServicesThe only authoritative source for the application fee. Fees change — check this page before you pay.
CEAC — Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application (DS-160)The DS-160 form itself, and where the confirmation page is reprinted.
USTravelDocs — appointments and fee payment (China)The official service for booking, rescheduling, paying and passport return; rules vary by the post where you apply.
8 U.S.C. §1184 — the statute behind a 214(b) refusalWhere the presumption of immigrant intent — the thing a 214(b) refusal actually applies — is written down.
EVUS — Electronic Visa Update SystemWhere holders of a 10-year B1/B2 on a PRC passport enrol before travelling.
9 FAM 402.1 — Overview of NIV ClassificationsThe Foreign Affairs Manual consular officers work from — more detailed than the applicant-facing pages.

Updated 2026-08-27