As of November 19, 2015, the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) Chapter 9 “9 FAM” has been revised, rewritten, renumbered and relocated to 9 FAM-e on the Department of State website. This 9 FAM-e is now the authoritative source for visa guidance. The FAM and its associated Handbooks are the single, comprehensive and authoritative source for the Department of State’s organizational structures and contain the policies and procedures that govern the operations of the State Department, the Foreign Service and, as applicable, other federal agencies. While the new 9 FAM-e overhauls language and organization, it does not alter substance. The new 9 FAM-e presents information in a more improved way and adopts an organizational structure that is both more logical and better suited to modern search technologies.

For those with frequent travelers, the 9 FAM-e section (formerly 9 FAM) is the complete resource on all visa classifications, both nonimmigrant and immigrant, and is a valuable tool in understanding the eligibility requirements for any particular visa classification.

For example, a frequently consulted section, 9 FAMe 402.2-5(B) (formerly 9 FAM 41.31 N8), lists the acceptable types of activities for B-1 business visitors.

The scope of 9 FAM-e includes details on grounds of ineligibility, waivers and other critical issues facing foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States. Users of the new FAM-e will notice that is much easier to navigate and search than its predecessor and should become an invaluable resource. The new site contains a special section with crosswalks to the former 9 FAM, so users can match new sections with former locations in the legacy FAM and vice versa.

For more information and to access the new and improved 9 FAM-e, please click here.