DS-160 or Nonimmigrant Visa Application is a process wherein a person wishes to obtain a visa for a temporary travel in the United States of America. It is accomplished and submitted electronically to the Department of the US website. When applying for a K1 visa, it is perquisite that an I-129F petition should be approved first prior to accomplishing DS-160 form. However, the form can be accessed and filled anytime from the website. It can be then saved and will be available in the system for 30 days.
While waiting for our petition’s approval from the National Visa Center, we’ve started to draft our DS-160 form then we keep revisiting the information we’ve supplied to make sure that there will be no missing details in all our records. We’ve made sure that the information we’ve provided in DS-160 form matched with our I-129F as well.
The online application for a Nonimmigrant Visa can be accessed thru Consular Electronic Application Center website – https://ceac.state.gov/GenNIV/Default.aspx. When we’ve initially filled up the form, we choose Dubai Consulate as a placed where I would be applying for visa but due to classification of our K1 visa, it is prompting us to choose Abu Dhabi in the confirmation/last page instead since K1 visa is only processed from there.
The form has five parts to complete:
- Location Information – This is where you wish to apply for the visa. As for us – K1 visa is only available from Abu Dhabi Embassy – UAE.
- Personal, Address, Phone and Passport Information – This part includes applicants personal and basic information such as Name or other names used, birthdate, birthplace, questions about nationality, home address, phone numbers (home and work), social media platforms and passport information.
- Travel Information – It includes purposes of travel to the US, petition number, travel plans, where to stay in US, who’s paying for the trip and if the applicant been in the US, got refusal to enter or previous petition records.
- Family Information – This includes parents’ information of the applicant and fiancé or fiancée, applicant’s other relative living in the US if any, fiancé or fiancée complete name and basic information such as name, birth date, address, occupation, previous spouse/s if any and children.
- Security and Background Information – This is an answer of yes or no to the questions related to health and security issues that may affect the US.
- Work, Education, Training Information – This contains information about applicant’s occupation, work addresses and history, countries visited, education history, professional affiliations and specialized training or group attended.
- Confirmation page – Questions answerable by yes or no and other illegibility criteria and a confirmation or location submission and whether the form was accomplished by the applicant itself or not.
Once the form is completed, it can be saved as a draft or sent whenever ready for submission. Take note of Application ID number to go back, to be able to retrieve the form or whenever it is being paid in the Official U.S Department of State Visa Appointment website. The accomplished form can also be downloaded in PDF format. However, it cannot be brought along in the interview or in the embassy.
Note: Online payment for DS-160 application will be paid alongside with visa appointment in Official U.S Department of State Visa Appointment website. Consular Electronic Application Center website is only available for filling up the DS-160 form and to be able to generate that Application ID number.
