DS-160 Electronic Visa Application Form

1. What is the DS-160?

The online non-immigrant visa application Form DS-160 replaced all nonimmigrant visa application forms required in the past, i.e. DS-156, DS-157, and is mandatory for all nonimmigrant visa applicants willing to travel temporarily to the United States. Once completed, the information in the DS-160 will be electronically transmitted. You must then print the confirmation page that contains the barcode confirmation number. A printout of this confirmation page must be submitted along with your visa application documents at the interview. To begin completing the DS-160, click on the following link: https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/. Important: We strongly recommend you to save the barcode number in case you get disconnected while completing the DS-160.

2. What do I need to get started?

Before completing the application form, we recommend that you draw together the following information that will be required when you complete the form.

• The Address and telephone number where you will be staying in the United States,
• Your passport number, dates of issuance and expiration, issuing authority, etc,
•  Your Address and telephone number in Cuba
•  Your job position, places of employment, and dates of employment for the past 10 years
•  If you are retired, your job position, dates and places of employment before you retired.
•  All the countries you have visited in the past 5 years and your dates of travel.
•  The dates and periods of stay of your previous travel to the United States.
•  The names and surnames of your mother, father and spouse, and their dates of birth.  

3. Are the questions in Spanish? Can my answers be in Spanish?

The form is in English, but you can select “Español” from the “Select Tooltip Language” window at the top, right hand corner; every time you put your mouse cursor over any group of text, a translation into Spanish will appear. All application answers, except as specifically 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 and may have to reschedule your appointment.

4. Are all fields on the DS-160 mandatory?

Most fields on the DS-160 are mandatory. You may leave fields marked “Optional” blank. 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 will be displayed and you will be required to complete the field before continuing with the application. If you do not answer questions that apply, your form may also be rejected. For instance, you must complete all previous jobs even if you are retired and list all immediate relatives in the U.S., not only the one that invites you.

5. What happens if I need to step away in the middle of data entry? How do I save my application?

In order to guard against possible  data loss 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 “Upload a Previous Application” option on the “Getting Started” page to upload the data that you have already entered.

6. The DS-160 gives me an option to upload the applicant’s photo. Do I need to do this to complete the application?

The DS-160 photo option for Havana has been enabled and is currently mandatory for all non-immigrant visa applicants. For detailed information about the photo requirements, please visit: http://travel.state.gov/visa/visaphotoreq/visaphotoreq_5334.html.

7. Why did the edits I made from the review page 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.

8. 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 U.S. Interests Section 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. Refer to question 4 on how to save your application.

9. Do I bring my entire application with me to the interview, or do I just bring the confirmation page (barcode sheet)?

You should not bring your entire application. Your confirmation page is all that we need to retrieve your application data. The confirmation page is the small sheet with the barcode that you print out after completing and saving your application. 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.

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 still 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. What if someone else filled out the application for me?

We recognize that due to the limited access to the Internet in Cuba, many applications are prepared by family, friends, or a service provider on behalf of the applicant. In such a case, there are two very important points to keep in mind:

1. The application is your application regardless of who completed the form, and YOU remain responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the information provided.

The person who prepared the application for you must provide you the user-generated answer to the security question for your application. Without this you will be unable to make any necessary corrections to your DS-160 and may need to complete a new form. 

Additional Information on the DS-160

• FAQs Regarding Online DS-160 for Nonimmigrant Visa Applicants in Havana
• DS-160 Training