DS160 Visa Application Guidance Notes

Before Wild Packs can book your embassy appointment you must complete the DS160 and
note down your Application ID number. Once you have completed the form, you will need
to print a copy of the confirmation page as proof that it has been submitted and email the
Application ID number over to ella@wildpacks.com.

Please Read Before You Begin:

 This form is a little tricky at times and will require you to be on the ball and very patient.
However, if you follow the instructions below and give the required responses, then you
should not have any problems.

 We would recommend printing off these guidelines so you can use them as a reference
throughout.

 Allow a minimum of one hour to complete this form. Without the completed DS160 and
the Application ID number Wild Packs are unable to book your embassy appointment.

 Once you have started the form, it has a tendency to ‘time out’, so we advise that you
save it after completing every page and be sure to write down your Application ID
number so that you can re-access it if this happens.

 Make sure you have the following documents to hand before sitting down to complete
the DS-160, as the form requires you to input certain information from them:

 Your passport
 Your camp contract
 Your program number P-4-05709

 Answer all questions carefully and triple check for any spelling mistakes or typo’s.

 Some questions may be ‘none applicable’ so please make sure that you select this option
and do not leave any answers blank.
 You can complete and submit the DS-160 an infinite number of times, so do not worry if
you make an error or are unable to retrieve a previous application. However, we will
require the correct Application ID when booking your appointment and you will need to
take the confirmation page with the same Application ID listed on it when attending the
embassy.

 The DS-160 form can be found here: https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/

 When you get to the SEVIS section please save and exit- you can access the form again
once you have your SEVIS ID.

 Remember, you must complete the DS160 and print the confirmation page at least 48
hours before you attend the embassy.

 We’d recommend not doing the DS160 on a mac, but using a PC, and using Chrome. If
you initially struggle with the form please delete your cookies and cache, and try again.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Select the location (country and city) where you will be attending the embassy for
your visa interview appointment.

Then click ‘Start Application’.

Step 2: Read the instructions on how to complete the DS-160 application at the top of the
page VERY CAREFULLY!

At this point you should upload a test photo to your application to establish whether or not
it meets the embassy requirements. It is a good idea to read the ‘photo standard guidelines’
at this point as well so you can make sure you have the correct specification. PLEASE DO
NOT PANIC if you do not have a photo, or if your photo gets rejected, you should just
upload a random image and you will then be given the option to ‘continue without a photo’.
If you do not upload a correct American sized passport photo you must take a physical
photo, matching the correct dimensions and specifications with you to the embassy. You
can get these photos taken at most High Street photo shops and some photo booths. Please
note you may not wear glasses in your photo! Check this link to tell you more about the
photos: www.slideshare.net/USAinUK/ds160-visa-photo-requirements

Step 3: Write down your application ID, this can be found in the box in the top right hand
corner. You will require this if your application times out and you need to retrieve it, or if
you chose to leave your application incomplete and finish it off at a later date. We will also
require this number when booking your appointment.

Then pick a security question with an answer you can easily remember and click continue.

Personal Information 1:

Surnames- Enter your surname(s) as it appears on your passport.

Given Names- Enter your given name(s) as it appears on your passport, this includes first
and middle names.

Full Name in Native Alphabet- Only complete this section if your name on your passport is
written in a native (non-English) alphabet, otherwise tick ‘does not apply’.

Have you ever used any other names- Answer appropriately.

Do you have a telecode that represents your name- Answer appropriately.

Sex- Tick ‘Male’ or ‘Female’.

Marital Status- Select your applicable status from the dropdown menu.

Date of Birth- Enter your DOB as it appears on your passport in the DD-MM-YYY format.

City of Birth- Enter the city, or town, or village where you were born, as it appears on your
passport, if it is shown.

State/Province of Birth- Enter this information if it is applicable, some countries (including

the UK) do not have States or Provinces so in this instance, tick ‘does not apply’.

Country of Birth- Enter your country of Birth as it appears on your passport.

Save and click next

Personal Information 2:

Nationality- Select the country that issued the passport you are using to apply for your J-1
visa.

Do you hold or have you held any nationality other than the one indicated above- Answer
appropriately.

Are you a permanent resident of a country/region other than your country/region of

origin (nationality) indicated above- Answer appropriately.
National Identification Number- Tick ‘does not apply’ (UK citizens do not have one of
these).

U.S. Social Security Number- If you have worked in the USA before then you should have
one of these, so enter it here. First timers will be issued with a Social Security Number after
arriving in the USA so tick ‘does not apply’.

U.S. Tax Payer ID Number- Tick ‘does not apply’.

Save and click next

Address and Phone Information:

Home Address- Enter current home address in full.

Mailing Address- Select the option to add this if your mailing address is not the same as the
home address you have entered above, then enter in full.

Phone Numbers- Enter your contact phone number(s), you do not need to enter the
country code, but must provide at least one valid contact number.

Email Address- Enter email address.

Save and click next

Passport Information:

Passport/Travel Document Type- Please select ‘REGULAR’. If you think you have a different
passport type please contact the Wild Packs office for further advice.

Passport Number- Enter the passport number from the passport you will be travelling to the
USA on.

Passport Book Number- Tick ‘does not apply’ (UK passports do not have a book number).

Country/Authority- Select the country/authority where your passport was issued from the
drop down menu.

Where was your Passport Issued- Enter the city as it appears on the passport (most UK
passports will list either UKPA, HMPO or IPS, both of these are acceptable answers).

Enter the State/Province if it appears on your passport.

Select the country where the passport was issued from the dropdown menu.
Issuance Date- Enter the date as it appears on your passport.

Expiration Date- Enter the date as it appears on your passport.

Have you ever had a Passport Lost or Stolen- Answer appropriately.

Save and click next

Travel Information:

Purpose of Trip to the U.S.- Please select ‘Exchange Visitor (J)’ form the dropdown menu.

Specify- Please select ‘Exchange Visitor (J1)’ from the dropdown menu.

**This is an extremely important part of the form and you MUST make the correct
selections!**

Intended Date of Arrival- You should enter the date you are scheduled to arrive in the USA.
This does not have to be the date that your camp contract starts, but cannot be any more
than 30 days beforehand. If you haven’t booked flights yet, you should put your camp
contract dates.

Intended Length of Stay- Enter either 3 or 4 months depending on the length of time you
intend to stay in the U.S. It is VERY important that you do not put any longer than 4 months.

Address Where You Will Stay in the U.S- Please enter the summer address of your camp.

Person Paying for Your Trip- Select ‘Self’ from the dropdown menu (even if it’s actually
Mum and Dad!)

Save and click next

Travel Companion Information:

Are there any other persons travelling with you- Tick ‘no’.

Save and click next

Previous U.S. Travel Information:

Have you ever been in the U.S.- Answer appropriately and provide details as required. If
you are answering yes to this question, you will need to provide dates of your last five visits
to the USA, if you do not know the exact dates, please give your best estimate.

Do you, or did you ever hold a U.S. Driver’s Licence- Answer appropriately and provide
details as required.
Have you ever been issued a U.S. Visa- Answer appropriately and provide details as
required. If you are answering yes to this question you will need to provide the number and
issue date of your last visa and then answer a series of simple Yes/No questions. If you went
to the USA on holiday and did not go to the American embassy before (e.g. you applied
online prior to arriving) you will most likely not have had a visa, but had a waiver or ESTA.
Please check and if you have questions, get in touch!

Have you ever been refused a U.S. Visa, been refused admission to the United States, or
withdrawn your application for admission at the port of entry- Answer appropriately, if the
answer is ‘Yes’ please contact the Wild Packs team for further advice.

Have you ever been denied travel authorization by the Department of Homeland Security
through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)- Answer appropriately, if the
answer is ‘Yes’ please contact the Wild Packs team for further advice.

Has anyone ever filed an immigrant petition on your behalf with the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services- Answer appropriately, if the answer is ‘Yes’ please
contact the Wild Packs team for further advice.

Save and click next

US Point of Contact Information:

Contact Person- This should be your camp director as per your camp contract, you should
enter both their first and last names.

Organisation Name- Enter the name of your camp.

Relationship to you- Select ‘Employer’ from the dropdown menu.

Address and Phone Number of Point of Contact- Enter the summer address and phone
number of your camp.

Email Address- Enter your camp directors email address.

Save and click next

Family Information: Relatives:

Father’s Full Name and Date of Birth- Enter details in full, you should only click ‘Do Not
Know’ if you genuinely do not know your father.

Is your Father in the U.S- Please answer truthfully and select either ‘Yes or No’ answering
yes will prompt further questions regarding his status.

Mother’s Full Name and Date of Birth - Enter details in full, you should only click ‘Do Not
Know’ if you genuinely do not know your mother.
Is your Mother in the U.S- Please answer truthfully and select ‘Yes or No’, answering yes will
prompt further questions regarding her status.

Do you have any immediate relatives, not including parents, in the United States?- Please
answer truthfully and select either ‘Yes or No’, answering yes will prompt further questions.
Immediate relatives include fiancé’s, spouses, children or siblings.

Do you have any other relatives in the United States? - Please answer truthfully and select
either ‘Yes or No’.

If you have indicated that you are ‘Married’ in the marital status question at the start of the
form, questions about your spouse will pop up here.

Save and click next

Present Work/ Education/ Training:

Primary Occupation- Select from the dropdown menu, all full or part time students should
select ‘Student’ even if you have an additional occupation. If you are not a student, please
select the category that best applies. Once you have made your selection, more questions
will appear regarding the name, address and phone number of your present school or
employer. The form will ask you for an end date to employment or your studies, you should
put todays date.

Monthly Income- Only enter this if you are employed.

Briefly Describe your Duties- All applicants must answer this question, if you are a student
you should enter your course of study in this section.

Save and click next

Previous Work/Education/Training Information

Were you previously employed?- select either ‘yes or no’, if you have held any full or part
time job(s) over the past five years, you should answer yes and then enter the details of
your employment as required. You will have the option to add additional employers at the
end and should include all jobs from the past five years.

The next question will only appear if you are a male applicant aged 18-45.

Have you ever attended any educational institutions at a secondary level or above?- You
must answer ‘Yes’ and provide details of all educational institutions you have attended since
elementary (primary) school. You will need to click ‘add another’ at the bottom of the page
to add details of all the schools you have attended.

Save and click next

Additional Work/Education/Training Information- This section will appear for male
applicants only, you will need to answer a series of ‘Yes/No’ questions honestly and then
provide additional details as required.

Save and click next

Security and Background Part 1:

You will need to answer a series of ‘Yes/No’ questions regarding your medical background, if
you answer yes to any of these questions, please contact Wild Packs before proceeding with
the application.

Save and click next

Security and Background Part 2:

You will need to answer a series of ‘Yes/No’ questions regarding your criminal background,
if you answer yes to any of these questions, please contact Wild Packs before proceeding
with the application.

Save and click next

Security and Background Part 3:

You will need to answer a series of ‘Yes/No’ questions regarding your intentions whilst in
the USA, if you answer yes to any of these questions, please contact Wild Packs before
proceeding with the application.

Save and click next

Security and Background Part 4:

You will need to answer a series of ‘Yes/No’ questions regarding immigration law violations
in the USA, if you answer yes to any of these questions, please contact Wild Packs before
proceeding with the application.

Save and click next

Security and Background Part 5:

You will need to answer a series of ‘Yes/No’ miscellaneous questions, if you answer yes to
any of these questions, please contact Wild Packs before proceeding with the application.

Save and click next

Additional Point of Contact Information:

The note at the top of this page says that you have indicated that you will be studying in
some capacity whilst in the USA, even you will actually be working. The student and
exchange visa’s (J1, the camp counsellor visa you’re working on) are actually grouped into
the same category as study visas by this application form for embassy purposes.

You will now need to provide details for two ‘additional points of contact’ in your home
country that can verify that the information you have provided is correct. You will need to
know their full addresses and phone numbers. You cannot use family members but friends
or employers from your home country are fine.

Unless you have received the Wild Packs pack with the SEVIS receipt, or your SEVIS ID in an
email, please press save and exit the form. You can retrieve it once you have your SEVIS
information and then complete the form. Please remember to send Ella the information she
needs in order to book your appointment.

SEVIS Information:

SEVIS I.D.- Unless you have received the Wild Packs pack with the SEVIS receipt, or your
SEVIS ID in an email, please press save and exit the form. You can retrieve it once you have
your SEVIS information and then complete the form.

Program Number- P-4-05709

Do you Intend to Study in the US- Please select ‘No’.

Upload a Photo:

If you have had your US passport photo’s taken already, you should scan and upload one to
the form at this point. Regardless of whether or not your photo’s meet the requirements of
the embassy, they may or may not be accepted at this stage. It is therefore EXTREMELY
important that you take two printed US sized passport photo’s (2”x2”) that meet the given
requirements, with you to your embassy appointment, even if the form accepts the one that
you upload. If you do not have your photo’s you should just upload a random image to the
form and you will then be given the opportunity to ‘continue without a photo’. Please note
if you are a glasses wearer you must remove them for the photo. Use this link for more
information on the photo you can use: www.slideshare.net/USAinUK/ds160-visa-photo-
requirements

Review:

You will now be given the opportunity to review each section of the DS160 so please ensure
that you have input all details correctly.
If you need to make any edits, click the edit link in the right hand corner or each section.

When you get to the ‘location information’ page, please ensure that you have selected the
place where you have been booked to attend your embassy appointment, or where you
would like your postal application to be directed to.

Sign and Submit:

Wilberforce Act: Please confirm that you have read this information

Preparer of Application- This should be yourself

E Signature- Enter your passport number and the security code as shown, then click ‘Sign
and Submit Application’

Confirmation:

You will now see the confirmation page that you need to print and take with you to the
embassy.

You will also have options to save this confirmation page as well as email it to yourself,
which we highly recommend you do.

Now please email ella@wildpacks.com with the information required from the
checkpoints in her email (embassy location, application ID etc.).

Remember, you must complete and print the confirmation page at least 48 hours before
attending the embassy.