Explanations of the following terms contained in the online DS-160 form are available to you as help topics while you complete the DS-160 and are also provided below.
Help:Surnames
Enter all surnames (or family names) exactly as they are written in your passport. If only one name is written in your passport, enter that as your “Surname.”
Help:Given Names
If your passport does not include a first or given name, please enter 'FNU' (meaning “first name unknown”) in the space for “Given Names.”
Help:Other Names
Other names used include your maiden name, religious name, professional name, or any other name by which you are or have been known.
Make sure to enter the other names you have used in full. Thus, if you have only used another surname, enter it along with your usual given name.If you have only used another given name, enter it along with your usual surname.
Help:Telecode
Telecodes are four-digit code numbers that represent characters in some non-Roman alphabet names.
Help:Date of Birth
Enter as shown in your passport.
Help:Place of Birth
Please choose the name currently used for the place where you were born.
Help:Phone
You must provide a primary phone number.The primary phone number should be the phone number at which you are most likely to be reached; this could be a land line or a cellular/mobile number.If you have an additional land line or a cellular/mobile number please list that as your secondary phone number.
Help:Identification Numbers
Your National ID Number is a unique number that your government may have provided.For example, the U.S. Government gives unique numbers to people looking to work or who pay taxes.
Help:Other Nationality
Enter all nationalities you currently hold and all nationalities you have previously held (including United States, if applicable), regardless of whether you have formally and/or legally relinquished the nationality. If the country where you previously held nationality no longer exists, choose the name of the country that is currently used for that location.(For example, if you used to be a citizen of the former East Germany, choose “Germany.”)
Help: Permanent Resident
Permanent resident means any individual who has been legally granted by a country/region permission to live and work without time limitation in that country/region.
Help:Passport/Travel Document Number
Enter the number of the passport or travel document you will use to travel to the United States. This passport/document must still be valid, and must identify you and your nationality.
Help:Passport Book Number
The Passport Book Number is commonly called the inventory control number. You may or may not have a Passport Book Number on your passport.If you do, the location of the Passport Book Number on your passport may vary depending on the country that issued your passport. Please contact your passport issuing authority if you are unable to determine whether or not your passport contains a Passport Book Number.
Help:Expiration Date
In most cases your passport or travel document must be valid for at least six months after your arrival in the United States.
Help:Application Receipt/Petition Number
If you are applying for a petition-based visa, your application receipt/petition number was given to you by the Department of Homeland Security’s U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) after you filed your petition application at a USCIS Service Center. The application receipt/petition number is 13 characters long and the first three characters are letters.
Help:Previous Employer
Please enter information regarding your previous two employers only.Applicants may choose to bring along a separate written list ofallprevious employers to the visa interview for reference.
