Lothar, Yes, it is an American expression and fairly common. When used with the meaning of "to chat", it is an intransitive verb, i.e., it has no object. My friend stopped in and we visited for a while. Stella and I visited until late in the evening. He was busy visiting with a neighbor on the telephone.

i agree with Denis and Peachey

Denis has given a great answer. And the interesting thing is... we don't recognise this definition in Australia. I don't ever recall hearing it in British media either. In both cases, "visit" to us means simply the physical action of going to a place. So I suppose this is a specifically American definition. Which goes to show that some English definitions are not universally recognised. ;)

If my dictionary says the truth the word "visit" in America means "talk". It may be not small.

"Visit with" often means small talk. "Visit", by itself, does not.