Guidelines for Visa Filling for USA

The prospective visa applicant has to fill up Form DS-156 for non-immigrant visa to United States. The students who are filling Visa form has to fill up DS-156 and submitted to the visa applicant. It is important to fill the visa form properly with full care. Following are the general guidelines for visa filling DS-156 application form.

General Instructions:

• The form must be printed on one single page in back to back order.
• Most of the information to be filled in Form DS-156 is given in your passport.
• A separate form is required for each applicant.
• Do not over write or do cress-cross on the form. Fill it cleanly.
• Do not keep any question blank. Try to answer each and every question asked. Write “none” or N/A in case the question if not applicable.

Some information will vary according to individual status and conditions. We have described the general guidelines and information to be filled up in the form DS-156. This is provided as basic guidelines for you convenience; must fill information relevant in your case. If you are the filling up Form DS-156, fill in the way given as below:

1. Passport Number:
Every passport has its unique number. Mention your passport number in the form.
2. Place of Issuance:
Write the city name of your passport office, Country and State/Province of the passport office from where your passport has been issued.
3. Issuing Country:
Write the name of the country in which your passport has been issued.
4. Issuance Date:
Write the date on which the passport was issued to you. Make sure the date should be in ordinal format like 12-Jan-2000.
5. Expiry Date:
Mention the date of expiry of your passport.
6. Surname:
Mention your Last Name or Surname. In case of South Indian’s there is often a mistake seen. The passport authority writes the whole name of the applicant in the place of surname. The applicant should clearly indicate their last name and first name. Check the name in your passport and if the whole name is mentioned in one line, you should get it correct before applying the form.
7. First and the Middle name:
Mention your first and the middle name, exactly in the same manner as it is mentioned in the passport.
8. Any other Surname used:
It is applicable only in the case if you have different surname in the past.
9. Other First name or Middle name:
It is applicable only in the case if you have any other name in the past.
10. Date of Birth:
Mention your Birth Date in the same manner as it is written in passport in dd-mmm-yyyy format.
11. Place of the Birth:
Mention the place where you have born as mentioned in your passport.
12. Nationality:
Mention your citizenship.
13. Sex:
Mention whether you are a male or a female.
14. National Identification number:
If you are an Indian citizen, then it is not applicable. It is applicable only for the citizen outside India. An Indian student should write none or N/A here.
15. Address:
Write your complete residential address. This address can be different from the address defined in your passport. Basically this is the address where the consulate can able to communicate with the applicant. In case of USA citizen mention the present address of the home.
16. Contact number:
Mention your residential number, fax number, office phone number, mobile number etc where the consulate can contact you. Write none or N/A in case of not applicable.
17. Marital Status:
Make a check mark on the category under which your are coming.
18. Full-name of the Spouse:
Mention your spouse full name only if it is applicable.
19. Date of birth of the Spouse:
Mention your spouse birth date only if it is applicable.
20. Present Employer or School’s name and address:
Mention the name, address of the company in case if you are presently employed. If you have your own business mention the name, address of the business in which you are engaged or mention the name, address of the school/college if you are studying and mention N/A in case if you are retired.
21. Present Occupation:
Mention your present work or occupations in which you are engaged in. Write ‘Retire’ in case you are retired person and write student in case if you are currently studying.
22. Your date of intention of visiting USA:
Mention the date and year in which you want to go to USA. For example: Last week of July.
23. E-mail Address:
Write your E-mail ID if you are having.
24. Address of USA:
Write your address where you are going to stay in USA.
25. Name and Address of the person in USA with whom you are staying with?
If you are going to stay with your friends or relatives in USA, mention his or her name and address.
26. How long do you want to stay in USA?
Mention the exact time of your stay like 6 months and 12 days. This is applicable to apply for visitor visa
27. Reason for the Trip:
If you have applied for student visa, then mention the reason as ‘Study’. (If you have applied for Visitor visa, then write Tourism, and if you are going to USA for an official work, then specify Business Trip).
28. Who will pay for your Trip?
If your trip is sponsored by any person, then write the name of the person, if your employer is paying for you than write employer, and if you yourself paying for the trip, then write “self” in the column.
29. Have you visited USA ever before?
If you have visited to USA before this, then check ‘Yes’ and if it is your first time, then check ‘No’.
30. Have you got the US Visa before this?
If you have got visa for USA before, check ‘Yes’, if no check ‘No’.
31. Have your visa is been refused ever?
If your visa is refused before then check ‘Yes’, if no check ‘No’.
32. Are you interested in working in USA?
The answer of this question depends on the type of visa that you have applied, like if you have applied for student, visitor or business visa the answer should be ‘No’. For other visa categories like L1, H1 etc, check out ‘Yes’ option.
33. Do you want to study in USA?
If you have applied for student visa, the answer should be ‘Yes’, for all other categories of visa the answer will be ‘No’.
34. Name of the person traveling with you and its relation with you?
If any person is traveling with you then mention the details like name and relationship (like husband, wife) with you of that person.
35. Did your visa is been cancelled for revoked in past?
Answer the question honestly; they can able to know the truth from their other sources also.
36. Did anyone has filled a visa petition on behalf of yours in past?
The answer will be ‘Yes’ only in the case of Green Card holder. For other applicants the answer will be ‘None’ or ‘N/A’.
37. Do you have the legal permanent Residence i.e. US Citizenship?
Fill the appropriate answer in ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, if you have any legal permanent residence.
38. Other Important Questions:
For almost all the applicants the answers will be ‘No’, apart from some special cases.
39. Has the application is prepared by any other person on your behalf?
If the application is prepared by some body else the answer should be ‘Yes’ and if no check ‘No’.
40. If yes, then who has prepared the application?
If your application is prepared by any other person, write the name of that person. Mention the complete address, relationship with you, signature etc of that person.
41. Sign and Date:
Mention your Signature of the prospective applicant along with date of filling up the form.