Embassy of the United States

Non-Immigrant Visas

Frequently Asked Questions About the DS-160

1. Is there a Spanish translation available? Yes. Most of the instructions and the text displayed on the pages of the application have been translated. You may view the translation by positioning your mouse cursor over any group of text displayed on the page.

2. Can my answers be in my native language? No.  All application questions, except as specially provided, must be in English, using English characters only.  Applications that are submitted in any language other than English may be denied, and you may be required to submit a new application. 

3. Are all fields on the DS-160 mandatory? Most fields on the DS-160 are mandatory.  You may leave fields marked “Optional” blank.  Some fields may also give you the option to select “Does Not Apply.” If that field does not apply to you, you may mark the box next to “Does Not Apply.”  All other fields must be completed: the application will not allow you to submit a form with any mandatory fields left blank. In this instance, an error message displays and you are required to complete the field before continuing with the application.  If you do not answer questions that apply, your form may be rejected.

4. What should I enter in these fields?

• Native alphabet: enter here in your native script if it is not English or Spanish.
• National Identification Number: Mexican applicants should enter the Clave Unica de Registro Poblacional (CURP) as it appears in your passport. If the CURP is not shown in the passport please check “Does Not Apply.”
• Passport Number: Enter the passport number as it appears in your passport.
• Passport Book Number: Check “Does Not Apply.” However, if you have the old-style Mexican passport, there will be a passport BOOK number on the first passport page (not on the photo page) that is different from your passport number; please enter it here.
• Purpose of Trip: If you are Mexican applying for a tourist/personal travel visa, select Border Crossing Card/Laser Visa (BCC). If not, select the answer most appropriate for your travel purposes.
• Have You Made Specific Travel Plans: see the next 3 bullets for suggestions.
• Intended Date of Arrival: Enter the date when you are planning to visit/go the US if the visa is approved. For applicants residing in the border, enter the date when you plan to visit/use the visa for the first time after receiving the visa if approved (approximately 2 – 3 weeks after your interview date).
• Intended Length of Stay in the U.S.: Select the length in accordance with your plans. For border residents who plan to enter for shopping purposes, you can select “one day” or “2 – 3 days” as appropriate.
• Address Where You Will Stay: If you have an address where you will be staying, enter it here. If you are a border resident, enter the street, city and state that you normally visit.
• Previous U.S. Travel Information: Have you ever been in the U.S.? If your answer is YES, then provide information on your last 5 U.S. visits, including date of arrival in the U.S. and your length of stay, entering the information as accurately as you can.
• Have you ever been issued a U.S. Visa: If your answer is YES, you need to enter the visa number as it is on the visa. If you have a laser visa, the number is on the right side of the first row of numbers. It will start with the initials for the post that issued your visa (for example, Ciudad Juarez starts with “CDJ”). If your visa is in your passport, the visa number is typed in red on the right side of the visa. For lost or stolen visas, check “Do not know” for the visa number.
• U.S. Point of Contact: Enter the name of your contact in the U.S. If you do not have a contact in the U.S., check the box “Do Not Know” and in “Organization Contact” enter the name of the shopping mall or store where you normally shop.
• Address and Phone Number of Point of Contact: Enter the address of your contact in the U.S. If you checked “Do Not Know” to this question, enter the address of the shopping mall or store that you entered in the “Organization contact” question; for the phone number, enter all “9’s” if you do not know the store phone number.
• Family Information: Relatives: Enter your father’s and mother’s names, even if they are deceased. Enter the names of all family members who are residing in the U.S. (regardless of legal status) or who are American citizens or legal permanent residents, even if they do not live in the U.S.
• Monthly Salary: enter your salary before deductions (IMSS, Infonavit, etc.).  If you do not receive a fixed salary, you must enter an estimate of your average earnings for a month. If you are a business owner, you should enter an average amount of net income you receive from the business after expenses. If you receive a pension, enter the amount of the pension.  Your answer to this question must give the interviewing Consular Officer information about the amount of money you receive each month, regardless of the source.
• Travelled To Any Country Within The Last Five Years: This includes travel to the U.S.
• Criminal Information: Arrested or Convicted: This includes all arrests or detentions, including those at the border and by Customs and Border Patrol.
• Have You Ever Been Unlawfully Present: This includes being apprehended at the border, even if you returned to Mexico voluntarily.
• Preparer Information: If anyone other than you completed the form for you, that person must complete the preparer information section, even if was completed by a family member.

5. What happens if I need to step away in the middle of data entry? The DS-160 will “time out” approximately 20 minutes after the application has been idle.  The “time out” is designed to protect your privacy.  If the application times out, all the data that has been entered will be lost.  In order to guard against possible “time out” issues, you should save the application at regular intervals while you are completing the application.   To save the application, click the “Save” button at the bottom center of the application.  Clicking save will temporarily save your application.  In order to permanently save your application, select the “Save Application to File” button.  Then, click the “Save” button on the File Download window.  Identify a place on your computer to save the application file, browse to that location, and click the “Save” button on the Save As window.  The system will download your application to the specified location.  Once the download is complete you can click “Close” to return to the application.  You can then use the “Import Application Date” option on the “Getting Started” page to upload the data that you have already entered.

6. Why did the edits I made from the review page "edit" link not save? In order for data changes made from the review page links to save, you must use the buttons at the bottom of each page to navigate, instead of the browser's back/forward buttons or the buttons along the left of the screen.

7. Should I save my application before I submit it? YES!  You should, if you can, save your application locally (to either your hard drive or a CD) before you submit your application.  Saving your application locally is beneficial in two ways.  First, if your application is rejected by the Consulate or Embassy for being incomplete, i.e., your application contains nonresponsive answers or you failed to answer a critical question, you will be able access your saved application data, correct the nonresponsive or incomplete answers and submit the corrected application without having to complete an entirely new application.  Second, if you are a frequent visa applicant, you can update your saved application the next time you wish to apply for a visa and submit the updated application. This will save you time by not having to reenter information that has not changed since the last time you applied.  

8. How do I save my application? To save the application, click the “Save” button at the bottom center of the application.  Clicking save will temporarily save your application.  In order to permanently save your application, select the “Save Application to File” button.  Then, click the “Save” button on the File Download window.  Identify a place on your computer to save the application file, browse to that location, and click the “Save” button on the Save As window.  The system will download your application to the specified location.  Once the download is complete, you can click “Close” to return to the application.  You can then use the “Import Application Date” option on the “Getting Started” page to upload the data that you have already entered.

9. Do I bring my entire application with me to the interview, or do I just bring the confirmation page? You should not bring your entire application.  Your confirmation page is all that is needed to retrieve your application data. You must bring the confirmation page with you during all phases of the application process.  Without the confirmation page, it may not be possible to access your application and process your visa case. Click to see a sample of the confirmation page.

10. I am traveling with my family or as part of a group.  Can I create a family or group application? Yes.  On the “Thank You” page you will see an option to create a family or group application.  When you select this option, certain information from your application, such as destination, will automatically be imported to and displayed on a new application.  Please note that if you use this option you will need to create an individual application for each of your family members traveling with you or for each individual within the group. 

11. If I use the option on the "Thank You" page to create a family or group application, can I modify the data automatically populated by the system? Yes. If one of the dependents has a different surname or nationality, for example, the applicant can alter that data on the application before submitting.

12. I am applying for an E-Visa.  Do I need to fill out the DS-160 and the DS-156E? It depends.  If you are an E-Visa Principal Investor (E-2)applicant, all you need to complete is the DS-160.  If you are a Treaty Trader or an Executive/Manager/Essential Employee (E-1), you will need to complete the DS-160 and you or your employer will need to complete the paper DS-156E.