The Complete Guide To Filling The DS-160 Application Form

The electronic application form for the US nonimmigrant visa is Form DS-160. It is a completely online form that must be completed by any person seeking a nonimmigrant visa to the United States.

It informs the US government about your acceptance into an accredited university program and that you meet all the requirements to study in US. If you are willing to enrol in an academic degree program at the best universities in USA, you will need an F-1 student visa. And, the DS-160 is a must for your F-1 visa.

The form includes questions on your personal information, contact information, passport and travel information, past journeys to the United States (if any), family information, and school and employment experience.

Furthermore, the US visa application DS 160 form asks you security-related questions about your background and requires you to attach a photo of your face.

Where to Fill Form DS 160?

You can access the form DS-160 at the Consular Electronic Application Center website or you could use the services of a third-party company such as VisaExpress to assist you with filing this form.

Sample Form DS 160

You can access a free sample for the form here

DS-160 Form Filling Instructions

Completing a DS 160 online application form is not a hard task. You should follow a few simple steps and pay attention to your answers so you fill the DS 160 form online correctly, without making any mistakes.

• Go to the Consular Electronic Application Center website.
• Log in to your account.
• Complete the security question.
• Start answering the questions.
• Upload DS-160 Form Photo.
• Submit the Form.
• Print DS-160 Barcode Page.

Log in

After that, log in and begin filling out the form. Before you begin, make sure you have a strong internet connection and plenty of time. If you rush through the DS 160 electronic form, you may overlook important information. You will be asked multiple questions, so take your time.

First, you must decide where you will apply for your visa. If this is your first application, click the “Start an Application” button.

Complete the security question

You need to complete this part to get a unique application ID and for online security reasons. Choose a security question and remember the answer that you provide. You may need it for your next log in.

Start answering the questions

After you have completed the first two pages of the application form, you will begin to answer questions about your application. The questions are divided into four groups:

• Personal questions.
• Family information.
• Work/education/training information.
• Security-related questions.

Personal questions

• Name & surname.
• Full name in native alphabet.
• Marital Status.
• Date and place of birth.
• Country of origin.
• Do you have any other nationality other than the one indicated?
• Are you a permanent resident in any other country aside from your country of origin?
• Home Address.
• Phone number – work and personal.
• Email address.
• Passport information: Number, date of place of issuance, date of expiration.
• Purpose of the trip to the US (you may have to specify that).
• Do you have specific travel plans? If yes you will need to give the intended date of arrival, length and address
• where you will stay, and whether you will be accompanied by someone.
• Information on previous trips to the US: If you have ever been to the US, ever held a US visa, or were rejected from getting a visa or refused entry to the US.
• US point of information, if applicable – their relationship to you and home address.

Family information

• Parents’ given full names.
• Do you have any relatives in the US?
• Your spouse’s name, date and place of birth.

Work/education/training information

• Primary occupation, address, start date, monthly salary in local currency, and briefly describe your duties
• Were you previously employed?
• Have you attended any education institutions at a secondary level or above?
• Which languages do you speak?
• Have you traveled within the last five years?
• Have you belonged to, contributed to or worked for any professional, social or charitable organization?
• Do you have any specialized skills or training, such as firearms, explosives, nuclear, biological or chemical experience?
• Have you ever served in the military
• Have you ever served in, been a member of or been involved with a paramilitary unit, vigilante unit, rebel – group, guerrilla group or insurgent organization?

Security-related questions

• Do you have a communicable disease of public health significance? Communicable diseases of public significance include: chancroid, gonorrhea, granuloma inguinale, infectious leprosy, lymphogranuloma venereum, infectious stage syphilis, active tuberculosis, and others diseases as determined by the Department of Health and Human Services.
• Do you have a mental or physical disorder that poses or is likely to pose a threat to the safety or welfare of yourself or others?
• Are you or have you ever been a drug abuser or addict?
• Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any offense or crime, even though you are subject to a pardon, amnesty, or other similar action? This includes all arrests or detentions, including those at the border and by Customs and Border Patrol.
• Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled substances?
• Are you coming to the United States to engage in prostitution or unlawful commercialized vice, or have you been engaged in prostitution or procuring prostitutes within the past 10 years?
• Have you ever been involved in, or do you seek to engage in, money laundering?
• Have you ever committed or conspired to commit a human trafficking offense in the United States or outside the United States?

Security-related questions 2

• Have you ever knowingly aided, abetted, assisted, or colluded with an individual who has committed or conspired to commit a severe human trafficking offense in the United States or outside the United States?
• Are you the spouse, son, or daughter of an individual who has committed or conspired to commit a human trafficking offense in the United States or outside the United States, and have you, within the last five years, knowingly benefited from the trafficking activities?
• Are you the spouse, son, or daughter of an individual who has been identified by the President of the United States as person who plays a significant role in a severe form of trafficking in persons, and have you, within the last five years, knowingly benefited from the trafficking activities?
• Are you the spouse, son, or daughter of an individual who has violated any controlled substance trafficking law, and have knowingly benefited from the trafficking activities in the past five years?
• Do you seek to engage in espionage, sabotage, export control violations, or any other illegal activity while in the United States?
• Do you seek to engage in terrorist activities while in the United States, or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities?
• Have you ever, or do you intend, to provide financial assistance or other support to terrorists or terrorist organizations?

Security-related questions 3

• Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization?
• Have you ever ordered, incited, committed, assisted, or otherwise participated in genocide?
• Have you ever committed, ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in torture?
• Have you committed, ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in extrajudicial killings, political killings, or other acts of violence?
• Have you ever engaged in the recruitment or the use of child soldiers?
• Have you, while serving as a government official, been responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom?
• Have you ever been directly involved in the establishment or enforcement of population controls: forcing a woman to undergo an abortion against her free choice or a man or a woman to undergo sterilization against his or her free will?
• Have you ever been directly involved in the coercive transplantation of human organs or bodily tissue?
• Have you ever sought to obtain or assist others to obtain a visa, entry into the United States, or any other United States immigration benefit by fraud, willful misrepresentation, or other unlawful means?
• Have you ever withheld custody of a US. citizen child outside the United States from a person granted legal custody by a US. court?
• Have you voted in the United States in violation of any law or regulation?
• Have you ever renounced United States citizenship for the purpose of avoiding taxation?

Upload DS-160 Form Photo

At the very end of the DS-160 form, you will need to upload a digital photo of your face. The photo should be taken within the last 6 months, and meet the other US Visa photo requirements and specifications.

Note that to be able to upload the photo, it must be 240kb or less. After you upload it, if the photo meets the guidelines, you will see a green tick and the confirmation “Photo passed quality standards”.

Submit the Form

After you successfully upload the photo, you will receive the location where you should submit your application for a US nonimmigrant visa. Memorize the location, or even better write it somewhere.

You will then need to electronically sign the application. You can do so by clicking on the “Sign and Submit Application”.

Thus, you will successfully complete the first step of your application for a US nonimmigrant visa.

Print DS-160 Barcode Page

Once you are done, you will be presented with a confirmation page, which you need to print, and bring with you on the day of your US visa interview. Without DS-160 form confirmation you will be unable to attend your interview.

Documents You Need to Complete DS 160 Electronic Form

You will have to look at these documents when filling in the form:

• Your valid passport.
• Travel itinerary.
• Dates of every international trip you have made in your last five years, including to the US.
• Information on your current and previous education and work history.

Additionally, when applying for some particular US nonimmigrant visas, you may need to keep close to you some additional documents. These are:

• Students and Exchange Visitors (F, J, and M) – you will need your SEVIS ID and the address of the school/program at which you intend to study. This information should be on your I-20 or DS-2019 form.
• Petition-based Temporary Workers (H-1B, H-2, H-3, CW1, L, O, P, R, E2C) – You will need a copy of your I-129 form.
• Other Temporary Workers – you will need to have ready information on your future employer, including their address.

DS 160 Form Validity

The DS 160 form is valid for 30 days from the day you start completing it. Therefore, if you start applying on January 1, the DS 160 form expiration date will be by January 31. Make sure you complete the form on time, or else you will need to start it from the beginning.

DS 160 Form Visa Fee

There is no DS 160 form fee payment. However, you will need to pay the fee for the US visa you are applying for. Fees for most US nonimmigrant visas are $160, though there are also higher ones.

What is DS 160 confirmation number?

The DS 160 confirmation number is the number you receive once you complete the form, sign and submit it. The number serves as a confirmation that you have completed this step.

Can DS 160 form be edited after submission?

DS 160 form correction after submission is not possible once you have signed and submitted it. Yet, you can make a DS 160 form edit in two ways.

• If you submitted the form within the last 30 days you can just retrieve your application at the Consular Electronic Application Center system and edit it.
• The other way is two fill in a completely new application. You must bring confirmation pages from both the original and revised Form DS-160 on the day of your appointment.

How to retrieve DS 160 form after submission?

You will be able to retrieve your DS 160 form visa application within 30 days since the day you signed and submitted your application. Follow the steps below:

• Log into the Consular Electronic Application Center system.
• Enter the application identification number.
• Select “Retrieve an Application”.
• Create a new application, which will cause the entire prior application to appear.
• Edit the information as needed.
• Re-submit the application.

Should I print the whole application?

No, you do not need to print the whole application form. You only need to print the DS 160 Form confirmation page, without which, you would be unable to submit your application file or attend the visa interview.