The US visa number is the red, eight-character code printed in the lower-right corner of the visa foil glued into your passport. Everything else on the foil is printed in black; the visa number is the only field in red, which is how you tell it apart at a glance. It’s the unique identifier for that specific visa issuance, and it’s what forms mean when they ask for your “visa number.”
Where to Find It on the Foil
Look at the sticker in your passport. Your photo sits on the left, your name and biographic data run across the middle in black ink, and two lines of machine-readable characters run along the bottom. In the lower-right corner, set apart from the black text, is a short red code. That’s the number.
The placement is the same regardless of which US embassy or consulate issued the visa. Federal regulations require every machine-readable visa to follow a standardized format with the same minimum data fields, so you won’t have to hunt in different spots depending on where you applied.1eCFR. 22 CFR 41.113 – Procedures in Issuing Visas
What the Number Looks Like
Most visa numbers contain eight characters. The sequence is usually all digits, but in some cases it begins with a single letter followed by seven digits. Either way, the combination is unique to that particular foil.
When you type it into an online form, copy every character exactly as printed, including any leading letter. A single transposed digit can trigger a mismatch in government databases and hold up your filing.
Visa Number vs. Control Number
A second number appears at the top of the foil, printed in black. That’s the control number, and it does something different: the Department of State uses it to track the physical foil stickers during manufacturing and distribution. It’s an internal inventory identifier, not a personal immigration record.
Forms almost never ask for the control number. When a field is labeled “visa number,” it wants the red number at the bottom right, not the black number at the top. This is the single most common mix-up, and knowing the control number exists for a separate purpose is usually enough to avoid it.
Visa Number vs. Other Immigration Numbers
Several other identifiers show up throughout US immigration paperwork, and each one has a distinct job:
- The Alien Registration Number, or A-Number, is a seven- to nine-digit number the Department of Homeland Security assigns to you as a person. It follows you across every immigration filing for life. A visa number, by contrast, is tied to one specific foil. Get a new visa, and you get a new visa number but keep the same A-Number.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. A-Number/Alien Registration Number/Alien Number
- The I-94 admission number is an 11-digit number CBP assigns each time you enter the country. It tracks your arrival, departure, and authorized period of stay.
- The SEVIS ID, starting with an “N,” identifies F-1 and J-1 students and exchange visitors in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. It has nothing to do with the foil number.
- The DS-160 application ID is the barcode number on your nonimmigrant visa application confirmation page. It’s an application tracking number, not a visa number. The visa number only exists after the visa is approved and printed.
The short version: the visa number identifies one specific sticker in your passport. The other numbers identify you as a person, a particular entry, a student record, or an application.
When You Actually Need the Visa Number
The visa number comes up in a narrower set of situations than people often assume. Here’s where it genuinely matters, and where it doesn’t.
USCIS Petitions and Extensions
Form I-539, used to extend your stay or change nonimmigrant status, asks for the visa number from your most recent entry. Form I-129, which employers file for workers in categories like H-1B, L-1, and O-1, asks for it too. A common misconception is that all nonimmigrant extensions go through I-539; employment-based classifications like H-1B, L-1, and O-1 must be filed on Form I-129 instead.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status Either way, the number links your filing to your entry record.
Future Visa Applications
When you apply for a new US visa, the DS-160 asks about your previous visa history, including the number from your last visa. Having it on hand speeds up the application and helps consular officers review your travel history.
Form I-9: No Visa Number Field
Form I-9 does not have a dedicated “visa number” field. In Section 1, employees provide one of three identifiers: a USCIS number or A-Number, an I-94 admission number, or a foreign passport number with country of issuance.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification In Section 2, the employer records document details from whatever acceptable documents you present. If you show a passport with a visa foil as a List A document, the employer records the document number, but the form itself does not ask you to write the visa number in a labeled box.
I-94 Retrieval: Not a Required Field
CBP now gathers most arrival and departure information automatically from electronic travel records rather than asking travelers to fill in the data manually.5U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrival/Departure Forms: I-94 and I-94W To pull up your I-94 online, CBP asks for your name, date of birth, and passport information. The visa number is not a required lookup field. It’s still worth having on hand if a discrepancy shows up, but the days of transcribing your visa number onto a paper I-94 card at the airport are largely over.
Using the Number From an Expired Visa
A visa number doesn’t disappear when the visa expires. If a form asks for your most recent visa number and the foil has passed its expiration date, you still provide the number printed on that expired foil. The government uses it to trace your entry history and connect your new filing to your prior status. Some people assume an expired number is no longer valid for paperwork and leave the field blank, which actually slows things down: an adjudicator then has to look up the information manually.
Hold on to old passports that contain expired visa foils rather than discarding them. Even after the visa is no longer valid for travel, the number printed on it remains a permanent part of your immigration record and will come up again on future applications.
If the Number on Your Foil Is Wrong
Misprints happen. If your foil has an incorrect name, date of birth, visa number, or any other data point, contact the US embassy or consulate that issued it. For nonimmigrant visas, corrections can generally be requested only for visas issued within the past year. For immigrant visas, only unused visas that are still valid can be corrected.
Do not try to travel on a visa with incorrect information, especially an error in the visa number or name. The mismatch between the foil and the database record will be caught at the port of entry, and sorting it out there is far harder than fixing it before you leave.