To fill out the DS-160, go to ceac.state.gov/genniv, select the U.S. embassy or consulate where you plan to interview, write down the Application ID the system generates, and work through the online form’s sections on biographical details, travel plans, employment and education, social media, and security questions. When you’re done, you electronically sign and submit it, then print the confirmation page with the barcode to bring to your visa interview. The form takes about 90 minutes if your documents are in front of you.
Gather Your Documents First
The session times out after 20 minutes of inactivity and anything unsaved is lost.1U.S. Department of State. Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application DS-160 Pulling everything together before you open the form is the difference between a smooth 90 minutes and a frustrating afternoon.
Have these ready:
- Your passport. It generally must be valid for at least six months beyond your intended stay, though citizens of many countries — the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, and most of the EU among them — are exempt from that rule and only need validity through the planned stay. You’ll enter the number, issue date, expiration, and country of issuance.2U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Six-Month Validity Update
- Travel details: intended arrival date, the address where you’ll stay (a hotel name and street address works), and any itinerary you have.
- A U.S. point of contact: a person or entity in the country, such as a business associate, relative, or the hotel where you’ll be staying, with name, phone, and address.
- Current and previous employer names, addresses, and phone numbers, plus schools attended with dates.
- Your parents’ full names and dates of birth, and your spouse’s information if you’re married.
- Dates of any prior U.S. visits and previous visa information.
- Usernames or handles for every social media platform you’ve used in the past five years.3U.S. Embassy in Mali. Updated Social Media Disclosure Requirement for F, M, J Visa Applicants
- Category-specific numbers: SEVIS ID for F or M students, petition receipt number for H, L, O, P, Q, or R applicants, and the program number from your DS-2019 for J exchange visitors.
Get the Photo Right Before You Start
The form requires you to upload a digital photo, and the State Department’s automated tool rejects images that don’t meet exact specifications. Fix this before you begin the application.
The file must be JPEG, no larger than 240 kilobytes, with a square aspect ratio between 600 by 600 and 1200 by 1200 pixels, in color (24 bits per pixel) in sRGB color space.4U.S. Department of State. Digital Image Requirements The photo itself must show your full face against a plain white or off-white background, taken within the last six months, with a neutral expression and both eyes open.5U.S. Department of State. Photo Frequently Asked Questions Eyeglasses have not been permitted since November 1, 2016.6U.S. Department of State. Photo Examples Head coverings are only allowed for religious purposes and cannot obscure the face. If you’re scanning a printed photo, it should be 2 by 2 inches at 300 pixels per inch.
Start the Application and Protect Your Progress
Open ceac.state.gov/genniv and choose the embassy or consulate where you plan to interview. The system generates a unique Application ID in the top-right corner. Write it down immediately. You’ll need it, along with a security question you set up, the first five letters of your surname, and your year of birth, to return to a saved application if your browser closes or the session ends.1U.S. Department of State. Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application DS-160
The site supports Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Safari is not officially supported, and JavaScript and TLS must be enabled.1U.S. Department of State. Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application DS-160
Hit “Save” at the bottom of each page before you step away. On the save confirmation page you can also click “Save Application to File” to download a local backup you can reload later.7U.S. Department of State. Saving an Application Locally Do this if you’re gathering information from other people or spreading the work across days.
Work Through the Sections
The form moves through pages using “Next” and “Back” buttons. Missing or invalid fields turn red and block you from advancing. Everything must be typed in English characters, though certain fields also ask for your name in your native alphabet.
Your legal name must match your passport exactly. Small discrepancies like a missing middle name or a different transliteration can delay processing or draw extra questions at the interview. If you’ve ever used a different name, maiden name, or alias, disclose it in the field provided.
Personal and Travel Information
The opening pages cover biographical data: name, date and place of birth, nationality, gender, marital status, and national ID numbers. From there you enter passport details and travel plans, including intended arrival date and length of stay. If your itinerary isn’t final, enter your best estimate. You’ll also list your U.S. point of contact, the person paying for the trip if that’s someone other than you, and any travel companions along with your relationship to them.
Education, Work, and Social Media
The employment and education pages ask for specifics about your current and past positions and schools, with addresses and dates. Consular officers use this information to assess your ties to your home country. Current students enter school details instead of an employer.
For social media, you select each platform from a dropdown and enter the username or handle that appears in your profile URL, covering the past five years. Omitting a platform you’ve used can result in a visa denial and potential ineligibility for future applications. If you genuinely have no social media presence, you can select “None,” but be honest — consular officers have ways to verify this.
Answering the Security Questions Honestly
Near the end of the form, a series of yes-or-no questions covers grounds for inadmissibility under the Immigration and Nationality Act, including health issues, criminal history, security concerns, prior immigration violations, and any past fraud on an immigration document.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Inadmissibility and Waivers
These aren’t formalities. A “yes” doesn’t automatically disqualify you, but a false “no” almost certainly will. Federal law makes anyone who uses fraud or willfully misrepresents a material fact to obtain a visa permanently inadmissible.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens Lying on a single question can bar you from ever entering the United States. If you have a complicated history — an old arrest, a prior overstay, a medical condition — answer truthfully and prepare to explain the circumstances at your interview. An honest “yes” with documentation is a far better position than a dishonest “no.”
Review, Sign, and Submit
After the last section, the form presents a summary of every answer. Read through it. Typos in your passport number, an incorrect date of birth, or the wrong visa category are common mistakes that surface later at the worst moment.
When the summary looks right, click “Sign and Submit Application.”10U.S. Department of State. Sign and Submit Page You must click this button yourself. Even if someone helped you fill out the form, federal regulation requires the applicant to personally sign it electronically.11eCFR. 22 CFR 41.103 – Filing an Application Clicking it is a legal declaration that everything in the application is true.
The system then generates a confirmation page with a unique barcode. Print it. That barcode page is the only document from the DS-160 process you need to bring to your interview; the consular officer will scan it to pull up your full application.12U.S. Department of State. DS-160 Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application Save a PDF copy too, in case the printout gets lost.
Fixing a Mistake After You’ve Submitted
Once you click submit, you can’t log back in and edit the form freely. If the consular officer catches a problem, or you flag one at your interview, the embassy or consulate can reopen your DS-160 for correction, and you’ll use your Application ID and security question to access the affected fields.13U.S. Department of State. DS-160 Frequently Asked Questions
If you notice something significant before the interview, the simplest fix is usually to fill out and submit a new DS-160. You’ll get a new barcode to bring instead. Check with the specific embassy or consulate on whether they prefer a correction or a fresh submission.
Pay the Fee and Book the Interview
Submitting the form does not schedule your interview. After you have the barcode, you pay the nonimmigrant visa application fee (sometimes called the MRV fee) and then book through the embassy or consulate’s scheduling system, which is usually a third-party website listed on the post’s site.13U.S. Department of State. DS-160 Frequently Asked Questions
The fee depends on your visa category:14U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
- $185 for most non-petition-based visas, including B (visitor/business/medical), F and M (students), J (exchange visitors), C-1 (transit), D (crew), I (media), and TN/TD (NAFTA professionals).
- $205 for petition-based categories: H, L, O, P, Q, and R.
- $315 for E (treaty trader/investor) and Australian professional specialty visas.
- $265 for K (fiancé or spouse of a U.S. citizen) visas.
The fee is nonrefundable, even if your visa is denied. Payment methods vary by country. Some posts accept online payment, others require a bank deposit or cash at a designated location. Pay before you try to schedule, because the booking system typically needs a receipt number to confirm your appointment.