My background : 28/F, Doctor, previously working for the govt (2y+), started new job just 3 weeks ago, no prior international travel history, no relatives in the US, first time applying for a visa.

Joined the queue at 8:30AM for my 9:20AM appointment. Was out of the embassy by 10:15AM.

I was lucky to have a really sweet VO. The entire process felt like a casual conversation. I know the general advice here is to be succinct and direct but I don’t completely agree with that. I believe that engaging in a naturally flowing conversation where your answers aren’t rehearsed while giving in all the information needed is the best approach.

It‘s also not true that more probing by the VO=rejection.

Qs I was asked:

• Hello, hello! Good morning, how are you today?
• So, why are you visiting X? Oh, interesting.
• So, I’m not completely familiar with physician licensing in the US, could you tell me more about it?
• When did you graduate and what have you been doing since then?
• I see. Why is this process important for you?
• Do you live with your parents?
• Have you travelled to other countries?
• What will you be doing when you come back?
• Can you describe your job for me?
• Your visa is approved! You’ll get your passport back in a week. Have a safe trip!

My replies were very comprehensive. She didn’t cut me off at any point of time. Wasn’t asked for any documents except my passport.

My timeline:

• Feb 16 (Started with DS160 )
• March 31 (Submitted DS160)
• April 1 (biometrics)
• April 2 (interview)
• April 3 (CEAC status approved)
• April 3 (CEAC status issued)
• Received my stamped passport today i.e. April 6. (I live in a Tier-3 city)

A general tip for those pursuing USMLE: Please be honest about your plans to do your residency there when asked. You’re certainly not the first med student/doctor they’ve interviewed who wants to go that route. Saw a student who fumbled really bad and unfortunately got rejected over this.

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to share my parents' B2 visa experience as a small thank-you to this group for helping me through every step – from DS-160 to visa approval.

My biometrics issue that I had: Link : https://www.reddit.com/r/usvisascheduling/comments/1ix1n7j/response_from_us_visa_desk_for_my_ds_160_issue/

Biometrics & Interview Location: Hyderabad VAC and Consulate.

Interview Experience (Very Short!):

VO asked only 2 questions:

1. Where are you going? – Answered with the city/state.
2. How many days will you stay? – Answered: 1 month.

That’s it. Visa approved right away!

Some Tips from My Side:

I personally believe filling the DS-160 correctly played a crucial role. Here's what I did:

1. DS-160 is Extremely Important:
Take your time filling the DS-160. Treat it as your "first impression" to the visa officer. Make sure all information is consistent, honest, and detailed.

2. Show Strong Ties to Home Country:
The main goal is to prove that the applicant will return to their home country after the visit. Some ways to do this:

• Mention current employment and responsibilities.
• Include additional income sources (e.g., rental income, business, agriculture, pensions, etc.).
• Property ownership, family responsibilities, and community ties help.

3. Explain the Work/Income Clearly:
In the section where it asks about employment or income sources, write a short but clear explanation of what the applicant does, including any side income. For example: managing a business, farming, renting properties, or even investments.

Basically, I used every chance to show they have solid reasons to return to India after their visit.

1. Consistency Across Forms:
   Ensure that all details match between DS-160, passport, invitation letter, and other supporting documents. Even minor spelling differences (like names) can raise questions — prepare an affidavit if needed.

Thanks to This Group:

This subreddit/community helped me A LOT — from sample invitation letters, DS-160 examples, to just reading through others’ experiences. So THANK YOU to everyone who posts and comments here.

If anyone has questions, happy to help!

My visa interview is in 20 days in Kolkata India , me and my parents will be visiting LA for my brothers graduation ceremony happening in may of this year and a bit of tourism … he’s in USC, I’m perusing my Bachelors in Law 5 years course this is my 3rd year going on.. my mum is a government employee and my dad is a private employee.

I really want to give it my best effort for our visa to get approved.. Any advice from any of your experience is much much appreciated….

Hi - My parents have their visa interview coming up in a few weeks in Mumbai, and I am looking for advice from the community on documents to bring, as well as any tips. I live in the US and I am hoping my parents can get the visa in order to visit me and my wife here (been trying to get an appointment for a long time!). My parents are retired, and I have a brother who lives in India in a different city than my parents. I am sponsoring their trip (as was noted in the DS- 160 form also).

Besides the appointment confirmation, ds-160 confirmation, and the passport, I was planning for them to bring the below docs: - Parent's documents: bank statements for the last 3 months, income tax filing returns for the last 3 years, property documents, flight tickets (havent booked yet, bht hoping I can find refundable tickets) - My documents: paystubs for the last 3 months, bank statements, invitation letter

Looking for inputs on the below from the community: - Any other documents you would recommend bringing? - Should my parents try to notarize some of the documents (Their documents? My documents? All documents?) - Any tips for the interview? - My parents would prefer to give the interview in Hindi, but I couldn't find any official way to request a Hindi translator ahead of time - is there any process to do that, or is it easy to request this on the day of the interview?

B1B2 visa for US I have my and my parents interview tomorrow. I am comfortable with English, but my parents are not. I am from Noida and I have my appointment in Hyderabad. Would they be providing a translator from Hindi to English and how would they interview be? Would it be all three of us together, or my parents and mine separate. We are travelling for my brothers convocation. Please help me out with some tips.

What documents do i need to send her?

I am thinking my wife sponsor my sister because my wife is pregnent plus my sister wants to visit few places.

My question is what documents do i need to provide her for the interview? Is it good idea?

visak1

I'm applying for B1/B2 visa from India and the earliest slot available is for April 2026. I've been checking the slots very frequently and also saw some slots available for 30 April and 1 May. However, when I'm pressing the Submit button the page doesn't respond and the selection is not considered. I'm not sure what's to be done.

Also, are there tricks to get an early slot apart from checking at random hours (especially late night)?

My DS 160 is expired and I don't have the old confirmation as well what should I do? I have my appointment in 2 weeks and I cannot reschedule as I reached the limit😔

Hi everyone, glad to find this reddit. I am filling up DS-160 form and have the following queries that I hope someone can clarify:

In Travel Section:

1. “Have you made specific travel plans?” – I chose no, and then it asks for an address where I will stay. Most people I asked said to put the address written in my i20. The address in my i20 is the address of the “Office of International Programs” of my university. Should I put that, or should I google the address of my specific department and put that?

2.“Person/Entity Paying for Your Trip” – Here “trip” refers only to the plane fare, right? If so, I can say “Self”. Or does it mean who is going to fund my studies? If it’s the latter, I have full funding (tuition waiver and TA stipend), so should I select “Other Company / Organization” and put my university’s information there?

In previous US travel part:

1. “Have you ever been refused a U.S. Visa” – I actually was refused an U.S. Visa (F1) way back in 2017, but from what I remember, they did not give an actual reason behind that. In the “Explain” part, do I just mention “I was refused a U.S. VISA (F1) in [month and year]”, and that’s it?

Address and Phone:

1. In the social media part, it asks to provide social media "identifier". What is this “identifier”? Is it just the username I go by? In facebook for instance, I have my Name, but also a separate unique name the platform gave me, so do I put it there, or do we I to provide link to my account there?

5. Also, is it necessary to link every social media accounts? I mentioned Facebook, instagram, linkedin. For google, it’s my gmail, and most other social media have gmail as its log in id. So is it necessary to mention all of them?

“Previous work” section:

6. In the “Were you previously employed”, I am allowed to add only 2 employments, but I have done about 5 jobs (aside from my current job) in my life. So just adding the latest ones there will be fine? Asking ‘cause in Canada applications, we are asked to attach extra pages and mention ALL jobs done. But that option is not here, so just writing 2 previous jobs will be fine?

1. In the “Have you attended any educational institutions at a secondary level or above?”, do I mention just my highest degree? I am mentioning Master's and Honor's (Undergrad). Or do I need to mention my O Level (high school) and A level (secondary school) as well?

Can someone tell me what documents I should carry with me at the dropbox location other than DS 160 confirmation page,payment receipt,current and old passport and photograph? For photograph,should I carry the photo as per specifications mentioned in this link? https://in.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/photos/

My interview timing was at 8 15 am. I reached there at 7 45. There was already a queue outside the consulate. One thing i realized is that it doesn't matter what time your interview is, you'll be in the queue regardless. The guy infront of me had an interview at 12pm.

Another thing to note is that they won't allow mobile phones or smart watches inside. So if you are alone, leave them in your car or else come with someone else to hold it. I saw some girl running for her life to put her stuff back in her car or else she will loose her place in queue. (someone saved her place till she came back). For me, i had to call my gf whom i asked to stay in the car cuz of the cold. She came running to hold my shit. So just be there early, so that you can get in early as your appointment time doesn't matter.

When your queue is up, they will ask you to show your d160 and your passport. After that you have to enter in where you'll go through normal airport checks. You'll be asked to open a door where there's an other queue.

There will be a counter at the beginning where they will ask us to show our legal status in Canada and US sized photo.

Then we turn left to a room where we queue again. They are divided into 'Intake', 'Fingerprint' & 'Interview'. These are booths numbered from 1 to 15 or 10(doesn't exactly remember) with last 5 booths for interview People inside aren't rude nor nice. Pretty neutral. Just be someone who does what they ask you to do without questions.

I queued in the 'Intake' queue for sometime, then they took my passport and i guess i had shitty luck and they couldn't scan my barcode or something like that. Oh ya they'll stick a sticker on your passport with barcodes . I don't remember when they'll put it though. And then they took my passport and asked me to wait. I waited for like 20 minutes? Then they called my name, apologized for the wait and directed me to go for the next queue which is for the fingerprints. The people who came with me was already done with their interview by this time and went home.

After fingerprints, which pretty much is self explanable from its name, comes the queue for interview. We can vaguely hear what they ask cuz we are kinda standing pretty closeby. I being very nosy, listened to their questions and answers very keenly. This gave me a Realization that its better to answer precise in few words than explaining the whole thing which inturn results in more questions.

Then came my turn, It was a chill white guy. I'm a brown guy by the way. Question : Whats the purpose of your visit? Answer : Road trip to Atlanta. That's pretty much it. (I actually have a friend over there to meet. If i mention that, it may make room for more question. So omited that.) Question: Where and what do you work? Answered that question. Interviewer: Your Visa is approved. (20 to 30 seconds. That's all it took) It took total of an hour and half for me. I guess it would have been done much earlier if i was early.

Yeah that sums up my whole experience. Just be confident and be early. If you guys have any more questions feel free to ask. Cuz i was looking for this thread which i just made numerous times and no one literally helped. So I'm pretty sure this will be helpful for someone.

Hi, I'm a us citizen residing intexas and I'm trying to find out how I can get my Mexican mother a visa to come visit. She is 84 and I read conflicting info that it might be possible for her to get an appointment waiver. Just checking in if she's a candidate or only people from certain countries. She's had several USA visas before over a span of 30 years and she hasn't overstayed.

My mom needs to apply for a us visa this month but her passport is expiring in 14 months.will she be able to still get a visa? She already has a b2 visa which expires next month

I had my interview for ir5 on April 1st 2025 but haven’t heard anything yet today is 6th April 2025. I opted for pickup status still shows ready. Mumbai consulate

1. Applying for B1/B2 in India. Is it possible to reschedule only VAC (keeping the same OFC whenever any slots open? Or both VAC and OFC need to be rescheduled?

2. Let's say one decides to reschedule and only gets appropriate VAC but not OFC, does the original schedule stay intact?

Had my US visa interview in Ottawa recently. Super quick:
"Why are you visiting the US?"
"What do you do for a living?"
"What's your salary?"
Then he says: "You're approved."

But just as I’m about to leave, he goes:
"Can I ask you a question?"

I’m like, “Sure?”

And he asks:
"How did YOU manage to get a quick appointment?!"

Apparently, most people he sees booked theirs 2–3 years ago.
I had actually found one within a week, but there’s a whole long story behind it that I wasn’t about to get into —

I just smiled and said, “It was random.”
He smiled back and said, “Alright, bye! Thanks, have a nice day.”

And that was that 😂

Hey everyone. I recently got selected for a fully funded educational conference happening in the US by the end of July. They’re covering everything, flights, accommodation, meals but I’m responsible for getting a visa myself. I’ve already filled out the DS-160 form but haven’t paid the visa fee yet. I’m a bit hesitant because of the current situation with US visa appointments - I don’t want to pay and then not get an appointment in time. Does anyone know if there’s a chance I’d be able to get a visa appointment before or in the beginning of July? I’d really appreciate any insights. Save a soul from wasting money TIA

We applied for a group priority visa. We are trying to figure out how we can get application id for our group application. Can anyone please help? Visa type:B1/B2 Country: India

I currently stay in the US on a dependent visa, which is in the process of being extended along with my spouse's L1 visa. Our current visas will expire in 2 months. My parents's have B2 visa interview this month and I gave travel dates of next month. Will the pending visa extensions have any issue on my parents's B2 visa application/ interview for a short visit? Should I change travel dates?

Hi guys,

I am 18M, currently a Law Student, applying from India . I don't have any travel history currently. I plan to travel to Singapore this year.

Can I submit my application now and schedule a slot, and later edit my ds160?

US Embassy Islamabad, F1 student: Got handed the 221(g) slip on the 20th of March 2025. Slip says I've got to submit supporting docs on portal.ustraveldocs.com but this site doesn't work now. Note that I booked my appointment on usvisacheduling. I've already submitted there in the "Messages/Feedback" section but there was a generic response which stated that you need to follow the instructions on the 221(g) slip (which, again, says I've got to submit supporting docs on portal.ustraveldocs.com). How and where do I submit my AP required docs???

My brother and mother are my father's dependants in the usvisascheduling application so will all 3 of them be given the same dates, slots for interview?
If so can my brother help them out during the interview?