How to Get a Tourist Visa to the United States?
Hello new world!
We had no plans to go to the USA. For some reason, we felt like we would definitely go to the USA for business or any other reason in the future.. We felt right!
A month ago, my company in Munich told me that I now have to go to Las Vegas for work twice a year, and from now on every year in April and October for work. I will be in Las Vegas. If there is no change in our plans, we will tour the West Coast with Umut in October.. It means it’s time for the “new world” to open its doors to us!
As my first Vegas trip was in April, we rolled up our sleeves and got a United States of America visa at the beginning of March. > I applied. I applied at the US Consulate in Munich’ on March 6 and received my passport on March 8, along with my 10-year US visa.
More Although I had applied for many visas before, I was a little nervous this time because the last months of 2017 and 2018 were not a very good year for Turkish citizens who wanted to visit the USA. I’ve been reading stories of people denied visas everywhere. So I went to the visa interview a bit nervously and got the easiest visa I’ve ever gotten! My interview lasted 30 seconds, and at the end of the interview, the authorized person said that I would receive my passport with my visa in 2 days. /strong>
Briefly before going into details;
– This article was written on March 2018. Visa procedures and application requirements are subject to change at any time.. Therefore, on your application date, be sure to check the visa application process on the website of the US Consulate.
– Since we live in Munich, US Consulate General in Munich‘ I made my application from. However, if you are going to apply from Turkey, the documents you need to fill out and take with you are the same.. Because foreigners always apply from the US Consulate in Munich, Germans can enter the USA with an e-visa!
– Even if you follow all the posts exactly, there is a chance that the visa will not be accepted for various reasons.. It’s hard to predict what ‘Big Brother’ will do.
Step 1:
Regardless of what type of visa you are applying for, the first thing you need to do is ‘DS, the official application form of US Visa Filling the application form called -160′ online. This is always the first step.
To fill out the form, you first enter the site. Select the language option in the top right.. If you are not confident in your English, you can choose the Turkish language option.. Even if you only choose Turkish as the language, you have to give your answers in English, a little reminder.
Choose the Consulate city where you will apply from this page, that is, where you will go for the interview, fill in the security code and click on ‘Start an Application’. Press.
The second page you see below will appear.. The most important thing here is to register your Application ID in the top right. It will be needed in the next steps.
As soon as you determine the answer to your security question and click “Continue”, you will now be on the page where you will start filling out the form.. You don’t have to complete the form in one sitting.. You can save and exit. When you want to continue refilling, you need to know your ‘Applicaton ID’ and the answer to your security question.
Step 2:
Important Questions on the DS-160 Application Form
Our As far as we understand, after you fill out this form, the form you filled up until the day of application is examined and it is 90% clear whether you will be granted a visa or not.. The officer you interviewed on the application day is mostly trying to understand whether the information on the form is correct.
So when filling out this form, the most important thing is to be consistent and not to provide inaccurate information about your salary or home address.. Let’s not forget, ‘big brother is watching you’ :). In summary, they know us better than we do.
Classic information is requested from you on the first pages of the form; your name, date of birth, passport information, etc.. We already know this part by heart from every visa application form.
In the next section‘Purpose of Visit’, that is, you choose your reason for travel. If you are going for touristic purposes, you need to tick the Temporary Business Pleasure Visitor (B) option.
After selecting the
(B) option; You need to choose (B1/B2) if you are traveling for business (B1), if you are traveling for touristic purposes (B2) or a combination of the two. I chose the middle mixed (B1/B2) type. You can choose the one (B1/B2) even if you are going touristic.. It seemed like they didn’t pay that much attention to that distinction.
Is it necessary to buy the plane tickets in advance or is the reservation sufficient?
In our opinion, you do not need to have bought the plane tickets at all.. You can make a cancelable reservation from THY.. Just in case. So your tickets are not burned for nothing. The same is true for the hotel.
The following form asks for your accommodation information, information about your spouse and family, details of your visit and your education/job information.. It is very important that you fill in all of them patiently and 100% correctly.
As a fact of our country, your salary may be paid from the minimum wage.. In this case, it is up to you how you write on the form, but your bank receipts are requested during the visa interview.. In this case, it would be beneficial to have enough money in the bank to finance your trip and to have proof of this with you.. After I came to this part, I saved the form and went to the photographer and took a visa photo for US visa.. I also asked them to send the photo to my e-mail address.. After I got the photo I went back to the form and uploaded it. If your photo is not suitable for the requested format, the system does not accept it anyway.
If there is a problem with the photo after going to the visa interview, you can have ‘snapshot’ taken inside the consulate.. So you don’t have to worry about the photo.
After completing the form, the system displays all the information you have filled in one by one for you to check.. It is important to review everything here, because once you press ‘confirm’, you cannot go back and change the form.
After pressing ‘Confirm’, you will see a barcode page with your passport information.. Save this page to the computer and print it out. Will need it in the future!
Step 3:
Making an appointment and paying the visa fee
Now that your DS-160 form is ready According to this, you can proceed to the part of paying the visa fee and getting your visa appointment!
If you are applying from Turkey, you need to click on this site, if you are applying from Germany like us, you need to click on this site.
If you are applying from Turkey, you need to click Your job is easy after you click ‘Apply’ – ‘I filled out the US Non-Immigrant Visa Application (DS-160) form and I need to apply for a visa’ on the site, in the order as in the photo, and then register on the site.. Now all you have to do is go ahead and pay your application fee.. US B1/B2 Visa fee is 160 Usd and unfortunately it is not refundable if the visa is refused.
For applications made from Turkey, you have the option to pay 160 Usd by credit card and you can pay the fee and go to the appointment page immediately.
After making your appointment on this page, your job is now easy, prepare your documents and go to your appointment!
– This section is only for applications made from Germany, if you are applying from Turkey, this section skip –
Unfortunately, it is not possible to pay the visa fee by credit card for applications made from Germany.. Therefore, after clicking https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/, you need to create a membership from the ‘new user’ section.. Do not forget to select the country as ‘Germany’ at this step.
After creating a membership, you click on ‘New Application/Schedule Appointment‘ in the upper left and on the page that opens, ‘Nonimmigrant Visa’. Then, you continue by choosing the city of Germany to which you will apply, and the page where you enter your information and DS-160 form ID will appear.. It is very important that you have saved your DS-160 form ID somewhere.
After you pass this step, the payment page appears.. Unfortunately, you cannot pay by credit card, so you have to send 160 Usd by EFT.. When you choose the money order option, they give you an ‘invoice number’ and an IBAN number.. It is very important that you write your ‘receipt number’ in the explanation section while sending the visa fee to this IBAN.. After the 160 USD you sent is transferred to the bank account of the consulate, you will receive a ‘confirmation’ by e-mail.. As the last step, you click on the link in the incoming e-mail and book your appointment.. It may take 1-2 days to receive the ‘confirmation’ e-mail after you make the EFT fee.. It took me exactly 2 working days, don’t panic if you don’t get the mail right away!
As you can see, paying the visa fee and making an appointment is a bit more troublesome for those applying from Germany.. But if you’ve come this far, most of it is done. Few are left.
We can move on to the last step!
Step 4:
Documents to be taken for appointment
USA The documents required for the visa are not like Schengen.. They don’t require you to show your hotel reservations and flight tickets.
There are three required things;
Your passport, printout of your DS-160 form and 1 photo suitable for visa. Of course, the stronger you go, the better, so you should not leave your job to chance and bring all the documents that may be required for a visa. I took my flight ticket and hotel reservations with me. The officer just wanted to see my payslip and was not interested in other documents.
If you are a student, don’t forget to bring your student certificate with you.
Step 5:
Appointment day
First of all, I should remind you again that I went to the US consulate in Munich for the appointment and the US consulates in Turkey may have different practices.. Be sure to check it before you go.
In the e-mail from the Consulate; It was written next to me that any electronic items (phones, tablets, etc.) are prohibited and that it is not possible to give escrow, so I left my phone at home.. But while I was waiting in line, I realized that people who brought their phones with them just asked to turn off the phone and they took it inside free of charge.. I’ve been traveling all day without a phone for nothing, anyway
After checking your documents and waiting in line at the entrance, they announce your name and you go in front of the officer you will interview.. Since this place is in the middle of nowhere, you can hear the conversations with other people while waiting in line.. So you can predict what kind of questions you will receive.. My dialogue with the officer was the same.
M: Hello, do you want to speak English or German? B: Doesn’t matter. It will be in English.
M: Have you been to America before? B: No.
M: What are you going for now? B: I’m going to the ETA Transact summit on X date in Las Vegas to represent my company.
M: Tell me a little about this ETA Transact? B: ETA Transact Fintech companies are bla bla…
M: What is your role in the company? B: My duties in the company are as follows; ….
M: Are you married? B: Yes, my wife also works in Munich. Architect.
M: Hmm. Arrow. Can I see the salary statement for February? B: Here you go. Would you like more documents?
M: No need. Visa approved. He received it with the passport within 2 days.
After this speech, I couldn’t believe how easy everything was, so I left the consulate and my passport actually arrived 2 days later with a 10-year visa!
In this process, I left the consulate. If I write briefly some of the information I have gained;
– The US Visa is not issued for a short time, except for special cases.. Generally, they give 10 years directly.
For questions that come to your mind while filling out the DS-160 form, you can refer to the following link.
The ban on applying for a US visa from Turkey has been lifted as of January 1, 2018. Applications resumed. For those who think that it was banned
Everyone who wants to apply for a US visa, take it easy, the “new world” awaits you!
Loves!
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