🇺🇸 USA (B1/B2 visitor) — Visa Documents for Indians

Which visa, and what it costs

Pick the category before anything else, because it sets your fee. B-1 is for business, B-2 for tourism, and B-1/B-2 covers a trip that is both — the usual choice for an Indian traveller going to see family, take a holiday, or attend a conference and stay on. The visitor fee is USD $185. Work visas in the H, L, O, P and Q categories cost $205, which is a different application, not a more expensive version of this one.

A B-1/B-2 visitor visa issued on an Indian passport is granted for multiple entries and a validity period of 120 months — ten years — and carries no reciprocity fee on top of the application fee. Validity is not permission to stay: it is the window in which you may travel and seek entry with that visa, and how long you may remain each time is decided separately. These terms are set per nationality, so a figure you read for another country will not be yours.

Source: the U.S. Mission

Fill the DS-160 — carefully, once

🔴 The DS-160 is filled online, and once you submit it you cannot change it. Not a correction window, not an edit link — the form is closed. Read the official guidelines before you start, keep your passport and travel dates in front of you, and check every answer before submitting rather than after. Everything downstream — the fee receipt, both appointments, the interview itself — is keyed to this one form.

Everyone brings these

• Your passport — you will need the passport number itself to book. On the interview-waiver drop-off route it should be valid at least 15 calendar days beyond that appointment
• The DS-160 confirmation page, carrying the barcode that both appointments are booked against — print it and keep it
• The visa fee receipt, for its receipt number and its 365-day clock

Build these files with the checklist above

Source: the U.S. Mission

Pay the MRV fee, then start the clock

USD $185 for a B-1, B-2 or B-1/B-2 visitor visa, paid before you can book anything. It is non-refundable and non-transferable, and it is payable whether a visa is issued or not — a refusal does not return it, and you cannot hand it to someone else or move it to another application. Everyone pays, children included.

Your fee receipt is valid for 365 days from the date it is issued, and within that year you must SCHEDULE your appointment — the appointment itself may fall after the 365 days, but the booking cannot. This is the deadline people miss: they pay, wait for a convenient date, and let the receipt lapse. Book first, travel later.

Source: the U.S. Mission

Book two appointments, not one

🔴 There are two appointments, and most first-timers only plan for one. First the Visa Application Centre, at one of five locations, where your fingerprints and photograph are taken — this must be at least 2 business days before the second. Then the interview itself at the Embassy or Consulate. To book either you need three things ready: your passport number, the receipt number from the visa fee payment, and the barcode printed on your DS-160 confirmation page.

Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your period of stay in the United States — measured from how long you intend to stay, not from the date you fly. The State Department adds "unless exempt by country-specific agreements", and it does not publish which countries those are, so treat six months as the test to meet: it is always enough, and it may be more than you strictly need. Separately, if you are using the interview-waiver drop-off, your passport should also be valid at least 15 calendar days beyond that appointment.

Source: the U.S. Mission

You may not need the interview at all

If you are renewing, you may be able to skip the interview entirely and simply drop your passport off — at one of eleven locations. You qualify if you are renewing a fully valid B-1, B-2 or B-1/B-2 that is either still current or expired within the past 12 months, and you were at least 18 years old when that previous visa was issued. Two details decide it: you must be physically present in India during the submission, and if you are relying on the expired-within-12-months route, your appointment must be booked at least 15 calendar days before that 12-month window closes — book later and you will be sent back for biometrics and a full in-person interview. Your passport should also be valid for at least 15 calendar days from that appointment date. Each applicant is judged on their own on the day they submit, so one family member qualifying does not carry the others.

Source: the U.S. Mission

Getting your passport back

Track the status rather than waiting for a call. “Approved” is not the end — wait until it reads “Issued”, after which passports are typically returned within 4 to 6 business days, with an SMS and an email when yours is ready. It goes to the collection point you chose while scheduling, run by VFS or Blue Dart, so choose one you can actually reach.

Source: the U.S. Mission