Interesting. My dad used to work for BP, and their lawyers were of the opinion that short-term engineering exchanges between the US and EU, either between corpo

Interesting. My dad used to work for BP, and their lawyers were of the opinion that short-term engineering exchanges between the US and EU, either between corporate offices or to/from their engineering contractors, qualified as visa-waiver business travel. I wouldn't think they'd be trying to fly under the radar, since BP is a huge company that's often subject to regulatory scrutiny, but who knows. As far as I can find, the exemption is somewhat broader than just training, and also includes "business meetings" and meetings for the purpose of contract negotiation/supervision. The thing the lawyers were really worried about was any kind of on-site visit to an operating plant, but that was for reasons of health/safety law, not immigration law. The non-operating engineering staff (local or foreign) had specific rules about what they couldn't do, so they wouldn't count as "operating" the plant, or get remotely implicated in anything safety-related. But for visits between corporate offices, they were very un-worried. Even visits to their Chinese joint-venture partner were pretty hassle-free, just requiring an "M" visa arranged by the partner.