Citizens of foreign countries can travel to the United States and stay there temporarily or permanently. People who wish to live in America permanently may go for immigrant visas and the others who seek to stay temporarily in the country may obtain non-immigrant visas. Hence, a person who seeks to travel to the United States must first obtain a US visa and this visa will be placed in his passport. Some international travelers may travel to the United States without visas and they need to meet few requirements to do so.
To apply for a non-immigrant visa, you must complete and file Form DS-160, Online Non-immigrant Visa Application and you can file this petition on your computer if you have internet connection and a compatible browser. You will be directed to the application form confirmation page after you file your petition online and you need to print that page and keep it with you and you will have to submit that page while appearing for the visa interview. A digital photograph that meets the specifications must be submitted while filing your visa application and see to that you have a photograph that meets the specifications and filing Form DS-160, is the first step in the visa application process.
After you file your visa application, you will have to contact the respective embassy or consulate and schedule an interview, if an interview is necessary in your case. If the embassy or consulate informs you that an interview is necessary, you will be issued a visa and the visa application process will be completed only after being interviewed by a consular officer. You must have your passport, travel itinerary and few other supporting documents handy as you may be required to submit these documents during your interview. Based on the purpose of travel, you may be required to submit some other documents and see to that you have all the relevant documents with you.
You may electronically pay the visa application fee and see to that you schedule a visa interview within one year from the date of paying the visa application fee as the visa application fee is good only for a year from the date of payment. On the scheduled date of interview, you need to go to the respective consulate and attend the visa interview. While going for the interview, take with you, your passport, photograph, DS-160 confirmation page, visa application fee receipts, interview appointment letter and other supporting documents. Remember that you must not file Form DS-160, if you are applying for a K visa and you will have to file the Form DS-156. Similarly, the application process for immigrant visas is not the same and that process is different.