DS-160 Form Guide for UK Residents: How to Complete It Right

TL;DR

The DS-160 is the online US nonimmigrant visa application form, and it comes first. One per applicant, children included. Sign and submit it at least 2 business days before your interview and print the confirmation page. Its number must match the number in your appointment account or you will be turned away at the door. If you find an error after submitting, complete a new DS-160.

What the DS-160 is, and where it sits

The embassy's nonimmigrant visa page sets out three steps: complete the DS-160 and print the confirmation page, pay the visa fee and schedule an interview at ais.usvisa-info.com/en-gb, then attend with your documents. The DS-160 is step one, and nothing else can start until it is done.

Each applicant completes their own form. A family of four needs four DS-160s and four confirmation pages, and a child's form is not optional.

The confirmation page is the document that matters

What you carry to the interview is the printed confirmation page, not the whole application. Print one for every applicant. If you leave it at home, the interview does not happen.

The 2 business day rule, and the matching number

Two hard rules sit around the DS-160, and both are checked before you reach an officer.

• The form must be signed and submitted at least 2 business days before the appointment.
• The DS-160 number must match the number held in your appointment account on the official scheduling site.

If either fails, you are refused entry to the building and the appointment has to be rebooked. Visa fees are non-refundable and non-transferable, so a mismatch is an expensive way to lose a morning. We recommend opening the scheduling account and the confirmation page side by side and reading the number twice, the day before you travel. Our guide to booking the appointment in London covers the booking side of the same check.

The social media identifiers question

The DS-160 asks every applicant for social media identifiers. The embassy's nonimmigrant visa page says to ensure all social media accounts are listed on the DS-160 and set to public, and its visas page names the classes told to set accounts to public: F, M, J, H-1B and others.

Answer it accurately. List the accounts you genuinely use, under the handles you genuinely use. We recommend doing this calmly and early rather than at the end of a long session, because it is the field people rush.

The photograph

You bring one physical colour photograph to the interview: 5 x 5 cm, or 2 x 2 inches, on a white background, taken within the last six months, not digitally edited and with no AI-generated content. A photograph that fails the requirements can mean being refused entry to the building and a new appointment. Get it taken properly rather than cropped from a phone picture.

Mistakes we see most often

These are our observations from preparing applications, not official rules. They are still the things that cost people the most time.

• Dates that do not agree with each other. Employment dates, travel dates and dates on your supporting documents should tell one story. In our experience, an officer who finds one date that does not fit starts checking the rest.
• Leaving previous travel out. Earlier trips, including trips to the United States, belong on the form. So does anything you would rather not mention.
• Leaving a previous refusal out. A past refusal is not a reason to hide it. Evidence of previously issued US visas is on the embassy's document list, and our page on 214(b) refusals explains how a reapplication is meant to work.
• Passport details that do not match the passport. Names, spellings, passport number and dates of birth must be copied character for character. This is the single most common cause of a mismatch.
• One form for a family. Each applicant needs their own.

If you notice an error after submitting

Complete a new DS-160. Submit it, print the new confirmation page, and then check that the new number matches the number in your appointment account before you travel. Do not rely on carrying the old page and explaining at the door.

What to do next

Once the form is submitted, the rest is the pack and the interview. Start with the pillar guide to the US visitor visa from the UK, then the document list for UK residents and the London interview guide. The Bundler assembles your file in the right order and the Compressor sizes it. When you are ready, the plan step tells you where you stand.

Prefer someone to do the paperwork? Our prepared-for-you US visitor visa service completes the DS-160 with you, builds your document pack, books the interview with you on the official site and gives you a written interview brief, for a £129 service fee. You pay the $185 visa fee yourself and attend the interview.