How to Apply

All applications for Visitor Visas: Business or Tourism must be submitted online via the DS-160 application form.

Submit Your Online Application

All applicants for nonimmigrant visas must complete the DS-160 online application form.

Applicants must also upload a color photograph to the DS-160 online application.  If you are unable to upload a photograph, complete the remainder of the application and bring a photograph to the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy on the day of your interview.  Please review the Department of State’s photograph requirements for visa applications on its Digital Image Requirements website.

In general, the applicant’s head, including both face and hair, should be visible in its entirety.  It is preferable that ears be exposed.  Head coverings and hats are only acceptable due to religious beliefs, and even then, may not cover any portion of the applicant’s face.  Sunglasses or any other wear which detracts from the face are not acceptable unless required for medical reasons (an eye patch, for example).  Digitally reproduced photographs must be reproduced without discernible pixels or dot patterns.  Photocopied photographs are NOT accepted.

After electronically submitting your application, print the confirmation page.  You will need to bring the confirmation page to your visa interview.

Once a DS-160 online application has been submitted, you cannot change or add information to your application at the visa interview.  Significant errors in your application, or information incorrectly marked as “Not Applicable,” “Nil,” or “Don’t Know,” may result in your visa application being rejected at the time of your interview.

 

  • The confirmation sheet of the DS-160 form (this is obtained after completing and submitting the form);
  • A valid passport with a validity date at least six (6) months beyond the applicant’s intended period of stay in the United States;
  • One (1) 2 x 2 inch (51 x 51 mm) color photograph. Visit the Nonimmigrant Visa Photograph Requirements page here.

Applicants must demonstrate that they are properly classifiable as visitors under U.S. law by:

  • Evidence which shows the purpose of the trip, intent to depart the United States, and arrangements made to cover the costs of the trip may be provided. It is impossible to specify the exact form the documentation should take since applicants’ circumstances vary greatly.
  • Those applicants who do not have sufficient funds to support themselves while in the U.S. must present convincing evidence that an interested person will provide support.
  • Evidence to show that the applicant has a residence abroad to which he/she intends to return at the end of the stay in the U.S. This is generally established by evidence of family, professional, property, employment or other ties and commitments to some country other than the U.S. sufficient to cause the applicant to return there at the conclusion of his/her stay in the U.S.

Do not have supporting documentation faxed, emailed, or sent to the Embassy; it will be thrown away. Bring all supporting documentation with you for the interview.