A complete end to end guide for the US B1/B2 Visa Application + Slot Booking + Interview

2025.01.19 10:19 mountain-ew A complete end to end guide for the US B1/B2 Visa Application + Slot Booking + Interview

I recieved my passport this friday, 17th Jan 2025 with the B1/B2 visa sticker for 10 years validity. The process was long and tedious with a lot of hoops you need to jump through, so I thought of compiling my experience with timelines and hacks I learnt along the way to give back to this sub.

My Background: I am early 20s, Software Engineer for 1.5yrs, Unmarried, Living with Parents, Salary < 20LPA, Travel History: Malaysia and UAE Visiting the USA for tourism to meet a friend studying there. No past US visa applications. I give this information as I understand visa approvals/denials can be related to a persons background. Most posts on this sub and across other forums show that many young 20s Software Engineers have faced refusals under 214b (immigration intent), but luckily I wasn't part of that list.
Before starting the Application: I did a lot of research. A LOT. I read through ustraveldocs website, watched hundreds of youtube videos, and read dozens of posts here to understand the process. Most places have some information missing so it was like piecing together a puzzle from across the internet. I contemplated for almost a month about whether or not I should take the leap as it would be a big monetary commitment as well as a time commitment looking for slots.
Filling the DS-160 form: For the visa process filling the DS-160 is the first step.

Website: https://ceac.state.gov/GenNIV/Default.aspx
3a. To start an application, select any city from the country you are applying from. This is only important for the country, the city you recieve an appointment in may be different and that is not an issue. I selected New Delhi, India. After you make a selection the website reloads and will be displaying the information in local language, only after reload will you be able to fill in the captcha, this was a little irritating at first but you get used to it. After filling both of these you can click on "Start an Application"
3b. The next screen will ask you to agree to some T&C. And this is the screen where you setup your security question. Choose your question from the dropdown list and your answer for the same then click on continue. Please make sure to make a note of these and keep it safe.
3c. You will now be able to see the DS 160 form starting from personal information and can start entering your details. At this stage please make a note of your application number from the top right corner of your screen. You will need this and your security question to log back in and retrieve your application. Keep saving the details you add every minute or two because the website will log you out after few minutes of inactivity.
I personally did not fill up the form in one go as I knew there were chances of some details changing from the time of filling to the time of interview. All you need to do in this case is to not let your application expire. For this make sure to login once every 30 days, the expiry resets to the next 30 days on every login (even if the expiry on the top right near application number says otherwise). Also remember to actually submit the application closer to your interview dates. However DS-160 does have a 1 year validity only, I do not know what happens if you do not submit within one year of starting the Application.
I started my application on 20 October 2024. And final submission of DS 160 was on 5 Jan 2025.
Tips : I refered to this youtube video for help with filling out the form https://youtu.be/uP8uPXebkEQ?si=_YN8bMobyZ8XLZcM

Creating an account for booking slots: Once you have your DS 160 application number, irrespective of whether the form is submitted or not, you can start creating an account to book slots.

IMPORTANT: Please verify once whether you are able to retrieve your DS 160 with the application number and security question before proceeding with this step, if not start a new application. If you create a scheduling account but are unable to login to DS-160 you might have to redo everything. This can cause troubles as the scheduling portal only allows one account per passport number (you might have to reach out to support).
Website: https://www.usvisascheduling.com
4a. To start click on Sign Up now, create a username, password, email, name and three security questions. Please take a note of these as well. Once complete you will be able to log in to the portal, Click on "Start Application" and fill in all your details carefully. These details CANNOT be edited once submitted so make sure to double check everything.
4b. You will be asked to specify document delivery, which refers to how you will get the passport after the interview once the visa is issued. Select whatever option is most suitable to you but be aware that you cannot change your delivery options once submitted.
Bluedart delivery costs 850 rupees, to be paid at the time of delivery.
4c. Last step before booking slots is to pay the visa fee. Currently the B1/B2 visa costs 185 USD which is around 15.5k INR. You can choose from Cash, Card or UPI options to pay. Card and UPI are the easiest and fastest. If you face any payment related issues do NOT pay the fees again as it is not refundable and you will lose money. Wait for the issue to get resolved, if not reach out to help desk.
Tips: I refered to this youtube video - https://youtu.be/oZF_RdoBNbo?si=tYHSkJeueqDZTxZm

Booking your Appointment Slot: After your payment is successful, you will be able to look for and book appointments. This is the most dreaded part of any US Visa Application as the waiting times are through the roof. As of 1st January 2025, you can reschedule your appointment ONLY ONCE not 3/4 times like earlier meaning you have a total of 2 attempts at booking slots; so now you might have to wait even longer. Patience is your best friend at this time.

5a. If you don't mind waiting then you can easily book whatever slots are available at the location of your choice. Wait times in India for B1/B2 are around 14-15 months for most locations.
5b. If you wish to get an early slot i.e. dates within the next 12 months you will have to hustle. Everyone on the sub keeps mentioning telegram channels but none provide links for the same. The ones I did find were of no use, only full of agents trying to promote themselves. I did not rely on telegram channels or any other such sources. The only way to find slots is to keep checking. This is completely luck based, which sucks but is the reality. Login once every 3-4 hours to check slots.
If you login too frequently you might face access limitation issues. Try resolving these by opening the website in incognito mode, using a different mobile/laptop, using a different wifi/network, clearing browser cache and cookies or a combination of these.
5c. If you see the waiting room screen when trying to login, try refreshing manually every 10-15 seconds or so. The waiting room is not an actual queue but just a piece of code which is set to refresh every 30 seconds. People have experienced waiting on this screen for hours at a time because they wait for the website to let them in. I have never had any issues when refreshing manually, and never waited on this screen for more than 5 minutes.
5d. In India, you are supposed to book 2 Appointments. First, a biometric appointment called VAC or OFC, where your photo is clicked and finger prints are taken. Second, the interview called Consular or Embassy appointment, where a Visa Officer (VO) asks you questions to approve or deny your visa. The two appointments can be on consecutive days or can have a maximum od 30 days gap between them. This will depend on which slot you book. If applying from other countries (for example Malaysia), both of these procedures might be done in a single appointment.
5e. There are cases when you might not be able to see the calendar at all for the selected location. Generally you will see a message on the screen which says no slots available. Don't get confused with the "Loading..." its just static text. This simply means there aren't any slots available for the location at that time.
5f. You will have to book both your slots in a single attempt to have confirmed appointments. What this means is that you should have selected both an ofc and consular appointment and submitted for your appointment to be confirmed. You are only able to select consular after ofc is selected.
Sometimes you may face a situation where you were able to select a date for ofc but on the next screen it shows no slots for consular. In this case the portal gives you a few hours time to find an open consular slot or your OFC appointment will be automatically cancelled. Do not worry if this happens, this is a frequent occurrence and this is not counted as one of your appointment scheduling attempts.
Once you have successfully booked your appointments, save your appointment confirmation page.
I was able to secure my appointments for January 2025 at New Delhi VAC and Embassy, which I booked on 29 October 2024.
Tips: • Type out www.usvisascheduling.com instead of just usvisascheduling. com . Without www. it wont work. • If you see no slots available try changing location and come back to the one you want. This refreshes the availability and sometimes you can see slots if they were released at that point of time. • Use incognito mode, I always used incognito mode whether on phone or laptop to check the slots. • Checking at odd hours (past midnight) - I have seen slots pop up at these times but they were also gone within seconds. I would suggest checking once or twice in all 4 quarters of the day. The slots I booked were found at 11am in a bulk release.

The Appointments:

6a. VAC/ OFC at New Delhi VAC: 9th January, 3.15pm I reached the VAC 30 mins early. Mobile phones, watches, car keys and other electronics are not allowed inside. Only your documents in a transparent folder or a small cloth bag is allowed. They do have some locker facilities available for those who need it at a hefty price.
Documents required: • Passports - I carried New and all my Old passports as well although they were not required. • DS-160 confirmation page which you get after you submit the form. (Not the whole form only the confirmation page is required) • Appointment confirmation page which you get after you book all appointments. • Any other ID proofs (Aadhar, Driving License etc) may be asked at the time of entry. • Photographs according to Visa specific dimensions (This is was also not requried unless its a child applicant less than 14 yo, but I carried it anyway)
For Delhi, enter Shivaji Stadium Metro station, after metro security go down 2 floors and US VAC is right opposite the escalators. The center was almost empty when I visited, they check your documents outside before the security lets you in for frisking. After this you head to the reception area where they will paste a sticker with a barcode on the back of your passport. Make sure not to remove or lose this sticker. Finally you join another line to go to one of the counters where photograph and fingerprints are taken. Since the place was almost empty I did not have to wait at all. They take your passport and documents, ask you to read a consent page, take your picture, take your fingerprints, stamp your DS-160 confirmation page and you're good to go. I was in and out under 15 minutes.
6b. Interview at US Embassy, New Delhi: 14th January, 12.00 pm
I reached 30 mins early. Mobile phones, watches, car keys and other electronics are not allowed inside. Only your documents in a transparent folder or a small cloth bag is allowed. I am not aware of any available locker facilities at the Embassy.
Documents required: • Passports - New and Old. With the sticker intact. • DS-160 confirmation page - The same one which was stamped at the VAC. • Appointment confirmation page. • Any other ID proofs (Aadhar, Driving License etc) may be asked at the time of entry. • Other optional Supporting documents - Salary slips, Bank statements, Net worth statement, Investment proofs, Property proofs, Marriage certificates, Employment letters, Invitation email from friend/ relative in USA, Passport + Visa copy of friend/ relative in USA etc
I carried salary slips, bank statements of 6 months, and passport and visa copy of my friend. Supporting documents will be different for different people.
At the Embassy, you will go through 2 security checks before you enter a corridor with a few windows/ counters. Here your documents and fingerprints are rechecked. After which you proceed to the bigger hall where people are queued up in front of the various windows where Visa Officers are interviewing the applicants. Just be polite and give your answers with confidence.
My interview is as follows-
Me - Hi Good morning VO - Good morning, your passport please Me - Here you go VO - Tourist visa? Me - Yes VO - Have you travelled internationally? Me - Yes I visited Malaysia with my family for a holiday in July last year and I have also been to UAE in 2022. VO - UAE also for holiday? Me - Yes VO - Where in the US will you go? Me - I'll be visiting my friend in New York for about 2 weeks in July this year. VO - What does your friend do? Me - She is a student at NYU. VO - What is she studying? Me - She's doing an MS in Computer Science. VO - How long has she been in the US? Me - She went in August of last year, so around 6 months. VO - What do you do for work? Me - I'm working as a Software Engineer at [US MNC] in their Bangalore office. VO - Indian subsidiary of [US MNC]? Me - Yes. VO - When did you graduate? Me - June 2023 VO - So you've been working there for 1.5 years? Me - Yes VO - Will you be paying for the trip yourself? Me - Yes VO - What is your salary? Me - X LPA. I mean X Lakhs per year. I have my salary slips with me as well. VO - Thats alright. VO - Do you live with your parents? Me - Yes I do. VO - Your visa is approved, your passport will be delivered to you in one week.
They will keep your passport if your visa is approved, or give it back if it is denied with a piece of paper explaining the refusal reasons.

Tracking: After your visa is approved you will be able to track the status of your Visa and Passport.

7a. Tracking Visa status -
Website- https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattrackestatus.aspx
These are the possible statuses that this website will show : Case created, Application Recieved, Approved, Issued.
My timelines - 14th Jan night- Approved 15th Jan morning- Issued
I did not see the first two status on my tracker, because I only checked late night on the 14th.
7b. Tracking Passport delivery -
This can be tracked via usvisascheduling website and also via bluedart tracking.
On usvisascheduling you can see the tracking status on the bottom right of the main dashboard. On bluedart website you can track the delivery status using UID (present on your appointment confirmation with the barcodes) as Reference number not AWB.
16th Jan evening - Origination scan on usvisascheduling, nothing on bluedart 17th Jan morning - Bluedart tracking became available, shows out for delivery around 11am 17th Jan afternoon - Delivered at home (asked for an ID, and the 850 rupees which I paid via UPI)
I hope this very very long and very very detailed post is of help to some of you applying in the near future. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors.
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2025.01.19 10:19 Dr_Rockzo69 Ahh it makes sense now

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2025.01.19 10:19 andreapier Limite detrazioni '25

Ciao a tutti, ho una domanda sulle detrazioni. Con la nuova legge di bilancio sono stati introdotti dei limiti sul massimo detraibile basati sul reddito. Ad es per redditi da 75k a 100k il limite é 14k. Ora, supponiamo che io abbia una RAL di 56k e che percepisca mensilmente 2k tra trasferte e reperibilità (caso teorico, non é cosi sfortunatamente). Il totale annuo lordo ammonta a 80k, di cui ~7k di contributi. La domanda é: i 7k di contributi sono considerati nel limite di 75k o viene considerato solo il reddito imponibile?
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2025.01.19 10:19 Old_Low_5443 Paint nails as a man?

Does it sound like a good idea to paint nails with my natural nail color to cover the dirt underneath? I have to stop cleaning them to grow my beds and they get dirty very fast, especially when I lotion often. My nail and nail bed shape is very round on my right hand due to shoving my teeth under the corners of my nails, the cuticles on the sides have completely abandoned my nails and it looks very bad/gets very dirty even with very short length.
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2025.01.19 10:19 soggycookie11 19M A random guy you should get to know

I’ll start with a disclaimer: I’m really, truly, terrible at putting who I am into words without having another person to direct them to, so if anything I say piques your interest I do hope you consider getting to know me but know that I’m much better when I have someone to talk to than just describing myself objectively.
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2025.01.19 10:19 Hot-Fridge-with-ice Why did humans evolve the ability to do complex mathematics?

Humans are great when it comes to understanding abstract concepts. We have also used this ability to develop mathematics that are super complex. Even at high school level, we already deal with things like calculus, complex numbers, analytical geometry. And it only gets more complex when you learn more about it.
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So why did we develop it when there was no need for it from a survival perspective?
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Is it worth it to wait for 2nd offer rounds if you didn’t get into your top preference. for my top preference my adjusted atar was .15 away from meeting the atar threshold displayed on the website however on my qtac it says i have satisfied the minimum atar needed. honestly since the next offer rounds is coming out in a weeks time, i didnt mind waiting but i’m starting to feel it’s entirely unrealistic for me to get an offer now
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2025.01.19 10:19 ridgelind So will we now have to use only Bambu Filaments

I was saving up to but an A1 Mini to get into 3d printing.
Now that I've been reading up on the controversy surrounding the firmware update .... not so sure anymore.
I'm definitely not tech savvy as most of you to use a lot of the 3rd party softwares to min/max my printing.
But I am concerned about being stuck with only one filament supplier in the future. That's my biggest concern, how likely is this?
So if not Bambu....what other printer should I be looking at in order to get into the game? 350 Euro and below.
Thanks
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2025.01.19 10:19 LoveLo_2005 Airman John Williams on the piano, circa 1952 - 1954

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2025.01.19 10:19 Digging-in-the-Dank Liz and Hakka talk about their MV outfits and to their swords

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