You Have Submitted the DS-160. What Gets Checked Next
Every rule quoted here was read from the authority that publishes it, on the date named in the sources below. We update guides when the source changes.
Four Required Documents, Named by the State Department
The visitor visa page lists what to gather before the interview, and the list is short. A passport valid for travel to the United States; the Form DS-160 confirmation page; the application fee payment receipt, if you are required to pay before your interview; and a photo, which you upload while completing the DS-160 and must bring printed only if the upload fails.
That is the whole of the required set. Everything else you may have read about is in the second category below.
The Passport Rule, and Its Exceptions
The passport must be “valid for at least six months beyond your period of stay in the United States (unless exempt by country-specific agreements)”. The internal standard is 9 FAM 403.9-3(B)(1): “An NIV is only to be issued in passports that are valid for at least six months beyond the initial period of contemplated stay in the United States, except in the following circumstances”.
One of those circumstances is a country-specific arrangement extending passport validity six months past the printed expiry. The list of those countries is published at 9 FAM 403.9-3(B)(2) paragraph f and runs to roughly a hundred. If your nationality appears on it, a shortfall may not matter — but that is a determination for the consular officer, and treating it as automatic is a bad bet on a non-refundable fee.
What “May Be Requested” Is Not the Same as Required
The same page continues: “Additional documents may be requested to establish if you are qualified. For example, additional requested documents may include evidence of: The purpose of your trip, Your intent to depart the United States after your trip, and/or Your ability to pay all costs of the trip.”
Three things, none of them on the required list, all of them worth having. The page also says what would establish them: “Evidence of your employment and/or your family ties may be sufficient to show the purpose of your trip and your intent to return to your home country.”
The One Thing You Should Not Bring
This surprises people, so it is worth quoting exactly. The State Department says: “Visa applicants must qualify based on their ties abroad/to their home country, rather than assurances from U.S. family and friends. A letter of invitation or Affidavit of Support is not needed to apply for a visitor visa.”
An enormous amount of advice online tells you to obtain an invitation letter. For a B-1/B-2 the issuing authority says it is not needed, and effort spent on it is effort not spent on the ties that actually carry weight.
Why the Interview Starts From a Presumption
The legal frame is INA 214(b), 8 U.S.C. §1184(b): every applicant “shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for a visa … that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status”.
That is why the ties questions dominate the interview. The starting position is not neutral, and the file's job is to move it. No document set guarantees that — it is a judgement made by a person, in a few minutes, in a conversation. What documents can do is make sure nothing in the file contradicts you.
A Practical Order of Work
Fix the checkable things first. They are the only part of this you fully control.
- Confirm the passport clears six months beyond your intended stay, or that your nationality is on the FAM list.
- Print the DS-160 confirmation page and check the barcode is legible.
- Print the fee receipt if you paid before the interview.
- Check the photo you uploaded was accepted; carry a printed one if it was not.
- Assemble evidence of purpose, intent to depart and ability to pay — employment and family ties first.
- Check every document names you identically. A maiden name on a bank statement with no explanation is an avoidable question.
Sources
Quotations are from the U.S. Department of State visitor visa page and from 9 FAM 403.9-3, both read on 4 September 2026, and from INA 214(b) as published on uscode.house.gov. The nonimmigrant visa application fee shown on that page was USD 185. Nothing here predicts a decision; INA 214(b) makes that a judgement for the consular officer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an invitation letter for a US visitor visa?
The State Department says no. Its visitor visa page states that applicants must qualify on ties to their home country rather than assurances from US family and friends, and that a letter of invitation or Affidavit of Support is not needed.
My passport expires four months after my trip. Will I be refused?
The standard is six months beyond your intended period of stay. There is a published list of countries whose passports are recognised for six months past their printed expiry, at 9 FAM 403.9-3(B)(2)(f). Whether it applies to you is the consular officer's call, so verify your nationality on the list rather than assuming.
What is INA 214(b)?
It is the presumption that every visa applicant intends to immigrate until they satisfy the consular officer otherwise. It is the legal basis for most B-1/B-2 refusals and the reason interviews focus on ties to your home country.
Is the visa fee refunded if I am refused?
No. Application fees are not refunded on refusal, which is why the checkable parts of a file — passport dates, the confirmation page, consistent names — are worth confirming before the appointment rather than after.
Check your file against these rules
Upload your documents and see which of the requirements above your file does not yet cover — the gaps are free to read, and every finding quotes the article it comes from. It will not tell you whether you will get the visa; nothing can.