Travelling to the US for independent research under VWP
I am planning to travel to the US under the VWP (I am a Spanish citizen). I will be visiting a university lab, but I am not receiving any salary or income from them and they will not benefit from me being there, so it should be ok according to B-visa purposes (and thus VWP):
Reference document from travel.state.gov, see "Researcher" on page 2.
What documents should I bring with me to show to the border officer?
Best Answer
You definitely should get a letter of invitation from the institution stating the duration and motive of your stay, as well as the fact that you will receive no compensation for what your're doing.
This is because when a VWP national presents their passport, they apply for admission in WT (tourist) status by default. You, however, want to get in in WB (business) status, which has slightly more privileges (explained below); hence you'll want to convince the CBP that that's the status you should be admitted in.
It is not appropriate for WTs to participate in UCSF activities.
In essence, doing activities that could be considered a form of work (but of course without being paid by a US employer) is not recommended if in WT Status - therefore if planning to do them, one should enter in WB status, and double-check the assigned admission class written by hand below the entry stamp.
If using an APC kiosk (which you likely will - depends on the airport), select WB as the desired admission class.
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Answer 2
What documments should I bring with me to show to the border officer?
Theoretically nothing. This is not a visa interview. But you are being prudent which is never a bad idea.
I will be visiting a university lab, but I am not receiving any salary or income from them and they will not benefit from me being there
This. Exactly this. I presume this is a longer, arranged visit so get a letter stating this from the university lab on official letterhead and stamp. If it contains the name and phone of someone the CBP can contact it's even better but I sincerely doubt you'd need that on the border.
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