official confirmation about student visas
Any dancers who are not US citizens and who do not have a US 'green card' (resident legal alien), might want to keep this in mind if you're considering travelling to the USA to dance in the future. The US Patriot Act has had a number of legal interpretations made and the US congress has passed some amendments to it recently. Also there have been a number of highly publicized cases of illegal employment of aliens lately i.e. WalMart.
It is confirmed that citizens of other countries who do not have either a US 'green card' or a US 'work visa' cannot be legally hired by US businesses - including dance clubs.
Prior to the Patriot Act, citizens of other countries who did not have a 'green card' or a 'work visa', but who were living in the USA for the purpose of attending college, could legally be hired based on their 'student visa'. However, it is confirmed that under the Patriot Act and post 9/11 changes to related laws, holding a US 'student visa' now ONLY allows you to work at the college that you are attending. A 'student visa' is no longer sufficient to be legally hired by US businesses in general - including dance clubs.
Since US businesses in general - including dance clubs - are now subject to large fines and even jail time for the owner if caught employing illegal aliens i.e. citizens of other countries who do not have a 'green card' or 'work visa', the odds have never been higher that a new dancer will have to provide ID when auditioning for a new club. If she's not a US citizen she will be asked to produce a 'green card' or 'work visa' prior to being hired - at least by the 'corporate clubs' and clubs that want to avoid trouble with the law.
To obtain a 'work visa' from a US embassy or the US state dep't, it's basically necessary to have an agent and a tour of bookings with definite dates pre-arranged. Simply walking into a US embassy in another country and asking to be granted a non-specific 'work visa' as an exotic dancer has an EXTREMELY low possibility of success, since exotic dancing is not an occupation where there is a shortage of qualified US workers.
To obtain a 'green card', you basically have three possibilities. The first requires that you have family members who are already US citizens or already have 'green cards'. If you already have such relatives living in the US you can simply come visit them on a 'tourist visa', apply for your 'green card', wait 6 months and you'll probably get it.
The second possibility requires that you acquire a family member who is a US citizen if you don't already have one. This typically means marrying a US citizen, and then going through the same steps as above. Divorcing him after you get your 'green card' is optional, of course !
The third possibility requires that you are a citizen of a particular country for which the USA has established a generous immigrant quota. Lately this has meant eastern europe and former soviet republics.
If you have the money to spend, and if you are a citizen of a country who is a staunch ally of the USA, you can also pursue dual citizenship through an attorney who specializes in such matters with a very good chance of success.