How to Fill Out Form DS-160: A Complete Guide

Form DS-160 is the online application required for every U.S. nonimmigrant visa - whether you are applying for a work visa (H-1B, L-1, E-3, O-1), a student visa (F-1, M-1), a tourist or business visa (B-1/B-2), or any other temporary visa category. The form is completed at ceac.state.gov and submitted before your consulate interview.

This guide walks through every section of the DS-160, covers fees by visa category, and flags the fields that most commonly cause problems at interview.

What is form DS-160?

Form DS-160, officially called the Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application, is the standard application form for anyone applying for a temporary U.S. visa. It is filed through the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) at ceac.state.gov.

The most important thing to understand about the DS-160 is that once you submit it, it cannot be edited. It generates a confirmation page with a barcode that you print and bring to your interview. The consular officer has your DS-160 on screen during the interview and will compare your answers to your supporting documents and what you say at the window. That is why accuracy matters so much - you are essentially writing the script the officer will read before they ever meet you.

A few distinctions worth clarifying upfront:

The DS-160 is for nonimmigrant (temporary) visas only. If you are applying for permanent residency through consular processing, the equivalent form is DS-260. If you are adjusting status inside the U.S., the DS-160 does not apply - your petition is filed through USCIS.

The DS-160 is also separate from any employer-filed petition. If your employer files an I-129 petition for an H-1B, L-1, or O-1 visa, you still need to complete the DS-160 as part of the consular processing step.

Who needs to complete form DS-160?

Every nonimmigrant visa applicant needs their own DS-160, including dependents and children. If you are applying for an H-1B, your H-4 spouse and children each submit a separate form. If you are applying for an E-3 visa, your E-3D spouse and children also need their own DS-160.

The applicant must electronically sign and submit the form, even if someone else helped fill it out. An immigration attorney, employer's HR team, or family member can assist with the form, but the applicant is the one who signs it.

The CEAC platform includes a "family application" feature that prefills shared details like address and travel itinerary for dependents, which saves time when filing multiple applications.

DS-160 cost and visa fees

There is no fee to file the DS-160 itself. However, you must pay a Machine Readable Visa (MRV) processing fee before you can schedule your interview. The fee depends on your visa category.

Source: U.S. Department of State fee schedule. Fees verified February 2026.

The MRV fee is non-refundable, regardless of whether your visa is approved or denied. Your fee receipt is valid for 365 days from the date of payment. You must have a confirmed appointment scheduled within that window - the interview itself can fall after the 365-day mark, but the booking must be in place before the receipt expires. If you cancel or reschedule more than three times, a new MRV fee payment is required.

Visa Integrity Fee update (February 2026):The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 4, 2025) authorizes a new $250 Visa Integrity Fee on all nonimmigrant visas, payable at the time of visa issuance (not at application). As of February 2026, this fee is not yet being collected - DHS has not finalized the implementation process or published collection guidance to consular posts. Unlike the MRV fee, the Visa Integrity Fee is only charged if your visa is approved, and it may be refundable if you comply with all visa conditions and depart the U.S. on time. Monitor the State Department fee schedule for updates. Last verified: February 2026.

Documents you need before starting

Gather everything before you open the form. The DS-160 session times out after 20 minutes of inactivity.

How to fill out the DS-160

The DS-160 is completed online at ceac.state.gov. The form is organized into sections that appear one page at a time. Most of it is straightforward personal and travel information, but a few sections deserve extra attention depending on your visa type. Below is a walkthrough of each section.

Before you begin: Select your consulate location at the start of the form. Save your Application ID as soon as the form generates one - this is your only way back in if the session times out or your browser crashes.

The session times out after 20 minutes of inactivity, and an unsubmitted application expires after 30 days - so have your documents ready before you start.

Here is what the DS-160 covers, section by section. The full form typically takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete.

Getting started

Choose "Start an Application" and select the U.S. embassy or consulate where you will attend your interview. The Application ID appears in the top right corner of the screen. Write it down or screenshot it immediately. You will also set a security question and answer, which you will need if you want to retrieve your application later.

Personal information (pages 1-2)

Enter your name exactly as it appears in your passport, including middle names and any punctuation. The officer will compare this directly to your passport at the interview window - any mismatch, even a missing middle name, is noticed immediately.

You will also enter your date of birth, place of birth, nationality, and national identification number (if applicable). If you have ever used a different name (maiden name, legal name change), you will need to provide it here.

Travel information

This is where you select your visa category, and it is one of the most consequential fields on the entire form.

For H-1B, L-1, O-1, P, Q, or R applicants: select the appropriate petition-based category. You will need your I-129 petition receipt number.

For E-3 applicants: select E as the category. The form then asks whether you have an approved LCA, which is specific to E-3 processing. Do not select E-1 or E-2.

For F-1 or M-1 students: select the student visa category. You will need your SEVIS ID from your I-20.

For B-1/B-2 visitors: select the visitor category and provide your intended travel dates and purpose.

You will also enter your intended length of stay and U.S. address.

Previous U.S. travel

List all prior U.S. entries, including ESTA holiday trips, student exchanges, and any other previous visits. The form asks for your last five trips with dates and duration. Pull your complete history from i94.cbp.dhs.gov before filling this out - officers can verify your entry history independently through CBP records, and omissions draw attention even when they are innocent.

If you have ever been refused a U.S. visa, had a visa cancelled, or been denied entry at a U.S. port of entry, you will need to provide details. Answer honestly - these records are accessible to the consular officer.

U.S. contact information

Enter the name and address of your U.S. point of contact. For work visa applicants, this is typically your employer or a colleague at the company. For students, it is usually the designated school official (DSO) listed on your I-20. For tourists, it may be your hotel or a friend or family member.

Family information

Personal details about your parents and spouse. If your spouse is applying for a dependent visa (H-4, E-3D, L-2, F-2, etc.), they will complete their own separate DS-160.

Work and education

Employment history: Enter your current and previous employers with addresses and phone numbers for the past five years.

For work visa applicants, the critical field is your U.S. employer's details. The employer name and address must match any supporting petition or application documents exactly. For E-3 applicants specifically, this means matching the LCA - including legal entity suffixes such as Inc., LLC, or Corp. Even minor variations can prompt questions at interview.

Education history: Include all degrees and diplomas, not only the most recent. Gaps or omissions in your education record can invite questions, particularly for visa categories that have education requirements (H-1B specialty occupation, E-3 specialty occupation, F-1 student status).

Security and background questions

Twenty-five yes/no questions covering criminal history, immigration violations, and national security topics. Read each one carefully and answer honestly. These questions can feel alarming in their directness, but they are standard for every applicant. Mistakes or false statements in this section, however, can have serious consequences.

Photo upload

Upload your compliant photo. The automated check catches many common issues but not all - a photo that passes the automated check can still be rejected during manual consulate review, which requires submitting an entirely new DS-160. Many consulates also request a printed physical copy at the interview, so bring one regardless.

Review, sign, and submit

Review every field before submitting - the DS-160 cannot be edited after submission. It takes considerably longer to submit a new DS-160 and update your appointment if you catch an error after the fact.

Electronically sign and submit. Print the confirmation page with the barcode immediately - this is the document you bring to your interview.

DS-160 for E3 visa applicants: key differences

The DS-160 is the same form regardless of visa type, but a handful of fields work differently for E-3 visa applicants than for most other categories. If you are an Australian professional applying for an E-3, these are the areas where it pays to be especially careful.

Visa category selection

Select E as the category - not E-1, E-2, or a generic work visa option. The form will then present follow-up questions specific to E-3 processing, including whether you have an approved LCA and the LCA case number. Selecting the wrong category requires starting an entirely new DS-160.

LCA number field

Enter your LCA case number if it is certified. If your LCA is not yet approved, enter 000 as a placeholder. See the LCA placeholder section below for the full parallel-filing workflow.

Employer name matching

Your employer name and address must match the LCA exactly, including legal entity suffixes (Inc., LLC, Corp.).

This matters more for E-3 applicants than for H-1B or L-1 holders, because the E-3 does not go through a USCIS petition stage where discrepancies would be caught earlier.

Immigrant petition disclosure

The form asks: "Has anyone filed an immigrant petition on your behalf?" If a prior employer filed a green card petition, disclose it. This is a question that understandably makes people nervous, but a "yes" answer is not automatically disqualifying for an E-3 - the visa is nonimmigrant, and prior immigrant intent does not bar you from E-3 eligibility. What does create a credibility problem at interview is omitting it and having it surface independently. Officers probe this field directly, and they have access to USCIS records.

Education requirements

The E-3 requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent in a specialty occupation. Include all degrees and diplomas in your education history, not only the most recent. Gaps or omissions invite questions about qualification legitimacy.

No I-129 petition required

Unlike H-1B, L-1, and O-1 applicants, E-3 applicants do not file an I-129 petition through USCIS. The DS-160 and your certified LCA are your primary application documents, submitted directly to the consulate. This means there is no prior USCIS review of your case before the interview - the consular officer is evaluating everything for the first time.

The LCA placeholder approach for E3 visa applicants

This is one of the most useful strategies in the E-3 visa process, and it is something most first-time applicants don't know about. The LCA takes around seven business days to certify once your employer submits it to the Department of Labor. E-3 visa appointment slots at Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth typically fill four to eight weeks out. If you wait for the LCA before starting the DS-160, you lose weeks of lead time. The placeholder approach lets you run both processes in parallel.

Step 1: Complete the DS-160 with 000 as the LCA number. Fill out all other fields accurately. Submit and save your DS-160 confirmation number.

Step 2: Pay the MRV fee ($315) and book your appointment immediately. An approved LCA is not required to book. Securing a slot now preserves your timeline.

Step 3: Once your LCA is certified, complete a new DS-160 with the correct LCA number. Submit it and save the new confirmation number.

Step 4: Call +61 2 7908 7456 with your appointment details and the new DS-160 confirmation number. US Visa Scheduling support will update your appointment to link to the correct form. No rebooking or additional payment is required.

Step 5: Attend your E-3 visa interview with the updated DS-160 confirmation page - the one with the real LCA number, not the placeholder version.

After you submit the DS-160

Once you submit, print the confirmation page with the barcode. If you forget to print it or lose it, you can retrieve it at ceac.state.gov using your Application ID and the security question you set when you started the form.

Your next steps after submission depend on your visa category:

For petition-based visas (H-1B, L-1, O-1): Your employer should have already filed the I-129 petition with USCIS. Once the petition is approved, you can schedule your consulate interview and pay the MRV fee ($205).

For E-3 visas: Pay the MRV fee ($315) and schedule your interview at your Australian consulate through US Visa Scheduling. If you used the LCA placeholder approach, call +61 2 7908 7456 to update the confirmation number linked to your appointment once your new DS-160 is submitted.

For F-1 student visas: Pay the SEVIS fee (separate from the MRV fee) if you have not already, then pay the MRV fee ($185) and schedule your interview.

For B-1/B-2 visitor visas: Pay the MRV fee ($185) and schedule your interview at the consulate in your country of residence.

In all cases, the barcode on your DS-160 confirmation page must match the one associated with your appointment. If you submitted a new DS-160 for any reason (correcting errors, updating employer details, replacing an LCA placeholder), contact the scheduling centre to update the linked confirmation number before your interview.

You can check the status of your visa application at ceac.state.gov using your Application ID or the barcode on your confirmation page.

How to edit DS-160 after submission

This is one of the most common questions people have, and the short answer is: you cannot edit a submitted DS-160. There is no way to go back into your application and change a field once you have signed and submitted it. If you need to correct an error or update information - a new passport number, a changed employer, a wrong visa category - you will need to submit a new DS-160.

The good news is you do not have to start from scratch. The CEAC platform lets you retrieve your submitted application and use it to pre-fill a new one, which saves a significant amount of time. Here is how:

Step 1: Go to ceac.state.gov and click "Retrieve an Application."

Step 2: Enter your 10-digit Application ID (this is also your DS-160 confirmation number) along with your surname, year of birth, and security question answer. Click "Retrieve Application."

Step 3: Your submitted DS-160 will appear. Click "Create a New Application." This generates a new DS-160 with all the fields prefilled from your previous submission.

Step 4: Make the corrections you need. Review every section, not just the field you are fixing - this is a good opportunity to catch anything else that may have changed since you first submitted.

Step 5: Submit the new application. You will receive a new confirmation page with a new barcode and a new Application ID.

Step 6: If you have already linked a DS-160 to an interview appointment, contact the scheduling centre to update the confirmation number. For Australian consulates, call +61 2 7908 7456. For other countries, check the US Visa Scheduling website for your location.

If your original DS-160 was submitted more than 30 days ago, you may not be able to retrieve it through the system. In that case, you will need to complete a new DS-160 from scratch. This is another reason to keep your Application ID and security question answer stored somewhere accessible.

DS-160 processing time

There is no processing time for the DS-160 itself - once you submit the form, the confirmation page is generated immediately.

This is a question that comes up often, and the answer is reassuring: the form does not need to be "approved" before you can schedule an interview. You submit it, you get your confirmation page, and you move on to the next step.

What takes time is the overall visa process, and this varies significantly by category. For E-3 applicants, the typical timeline is: LCA certification (approximately seven business days), appointment availability at Australian consulates (four to eight weeks out), and post-interview visa processing and passport return (generally seven to ten business days after approval).

For H-1B applicants, the I-129 petition processing through USCIS adds weeks or months before you even reach the DS-160 stage.

For B-1/B-2 applicants, interview wait times vary widely by consulate and country - check your specific consulate at US Visa Scheduling.

Common DS-160 mistakes that cause problems at interview

The DS-160 creates the record the officer reads before you walk into the room. These are the mistakes that come up most often, across all visa categories.

E3D dependents: known scheduling issue

As of February 2026, spouses applying for an E-3D visa alongside an E-3 principal applicant have encountered a documented bug on the USVisaScheduling platform. When scheduling a dependent's appointment, the E-3D visa type simply does not appear in the dropdown menu. In reported cases, only B-1/B-2 and C visa categories are visible.

The confirmed workaround is to call +61 2 7908 7456 directly. Support staff can add the E-3D appointment manually. Do not book under a different visa category as a workaround - selecting the wrong category creates problems at the consulate window.

This is a platform limitation that may be resolved in a future update. Last verified: February 2026.

What comes next after submitting the DS-160

What follows depends on your visa category, but the broad sequence is the same: pay your MRV fee, schedule your interview, prepare your documents, and attend.

For E-3 visa applicants, the next steps are:

1. Pay the MRV fee ($315) if you have not already. Your fee receipt is valid for 365 days and must be in place before you can access the appointment calendar.
2. Book your consulate appointment. Slots at Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth fill quickly - typically 4 to 8 weeks out. Use the Migrate Mate E-3 visa booking calendar to compare appointment availability across all three Australian consulates in one place.
3. Prepare for the interview. The consular officer will have your DS-160 on screen and will be comparing it to your documents and your answers in real time. Our E-3 visa interview prep guide covers what to bring, common questions, and how to handle 221(g) administrative processing.
4. If you used the LCA placeholder, make sure you have submitted your updated DS-160 with the real LCA number and called +61 2 7908 7456 to link it to your appointment before interview day.

For H-1B, L-1, and O-1 applicants, your employer's I-129 petition needs to be approved by USCIS before you can schedule the consulate interview. Once you have the approval notice, pay the MRV fee ($205) and book your appointment.

For F-1 students, pay the SEVIS fee (separate from the MRV fee), then pay the MRV fee ($185) and schedule your interview at the consulate in your country of residence.

For B-1/B-2 visitors, pay the MRV fee ($185) and schedule your interview. Processing times vary widely by consulate - check your specific location at US Visa Scheduling.

Frequently asked questions