Please help with DS 156 questions

[bond 2]

Hi guys!

I have problems to answer the following questions on the DS 156 document. Maybe someone can help me.

Question 14:

what is the National Identification number? Where can I find it?

Question 22:

When do You Intend to Arrive in the U.S.?

- I don’t know a specific date now. I just now it will be in March or April 2010. What should I write?

About Question 26, 27, 28 and 32 I am really confused. Are these questions even important for K1 applications?

Question 26:

How long do you intend to stay in the U.S.?

- I mean I want to get married and live there. What should I write?

Question 27:

What is the purpose of your trip?

- ???

Question 28:

Who will pay for your trip?

- I will pay for it. Do I have to provide any evidence for it?

Question 32:

Do you intend to work in the U.S.? (If yes, give the name and complete addresses of U.S. employers)

- of course I want to work in the U.S., but I want to start searching for a job once I will be there, so of course I don’t know where I will work yet. What should I write?

Thanks for your help.

- Adam

[dutchmatt 1]

Check out the example form: http://www.visajourney.com/examples/Form-DS-156.pdf

#14 - You probably don't have one - dont worry about it, leave blank

#22 - Leave blank or write "Unknown"

#26 - Permanently

#27 - Marriage and relocation to US

#28 - If you are paying write "myself" - no proof required

#32 - Yes, with authorzation, employee not known

Always check to see if there's an example form first.

Good luck

[Dakine 26]

Yes but no immediate plans for work and school.

DON't leave any blanks. Put NONE or N/A where applicable.

[bond 2]

Thanks for the fast answers!

[kaibigan 8]

Hi guys!

I have problems to answer the following questions on the DS 156 document. Maybe someone can help me.

Question 14:

what is the National Identification number? Where can I find it?

i leave it blank or put N/A coz i dont have it

Question 22:

When do You Intend to Arrive in the U.S.?

- I don’t know a specific date now. I just now it will be in March or April 2010. What should I write?

well, me and my fiance agreed to put end of october date there.. but we really not sure about that date.

because we might buy ticket early

About Question 26, 27, 28 and 32 I am really confused. Are these questions even important for K1 applications?

Question 26:

How long do you intend to stay in the U.S.?

- I mean I want to get married and live there. What should I write? we put here K1 visa process

for permanent residence.

Question 27:

What is the purpose of your trip?

- ???

to get married or/ to marry my fiance

Question 28:

Who will pay for your trip?

- I will pay for it. Do I have to provide any evidence for it?

well, my fiance told me to put his name on it.

Question 32:

Do you intend to work in the U.S.? (If yes, give the name and complete addresses of U.S. employers)

- of course I want to work in the U.S., but I want to start searching for a job once I will be there, so of course I don’t know where I will work yet. What should I write?

we just put no.. because first the purpose of the K1 visa is to marry your fiance

we don't want to commit any trouble answering our papers..so better to be safe than sorry.

after we get married we can talk about working or studying anyway..and we both agreed on this.

Thanks for your help.

- Adam

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hi guys!

I have problems to answer the following questions on the DS 156 document. Maybe someone can help me.

Question 14:

what is the National Identification number? Where can I find it?

Question 22:

When do You Intend to Arrive in the U.S.?

- I don’t know a specific date now. I just now it will be in March or April 2010. What should I write?

About Question 26, 27, 28 and 32 I am really confused. Are these questions even important for K1 applications?

Question 26:

How long do you intend to stay in the U.S.?

- I mean I want to get married and live there. What should I write?

Question 27:

What is the purpose of your trip?

- ???

Question 28:

Who will pay for your trip?

- I will pay for it. Do I have to provide any evidence for it?

Question 32:

Do you intend to work in the U.S.? (If yes, give the name and complete addresses of U.S. employers)

- of course I want to work in the U.S., but I want to start searching for a job once I will be there, so of course I don’t know where I will work yet. What should I write?

Thanks for your help.

- Adam

Check sample forms it is well covered there.

[kaibigan 8]

Hi guys!

I have problems to answer the following questions on the DS 156 document. Maybe someone can help me.

Question 14:

what is the National Identification number? Where can I find it?

we did not put any..or try none or N/A

Question 22:

When do You Intend to Arrive in the U.S.?

- I don’t know a specific date now. I just now it will be in March or April 2010. What should I write?

Me and my fiance agreed to put a date like oct.31 but he wants me to fly earlier than that..

About Question 26, 27, 28 and 32 I am really confused. Are these questions even important for K1 applications?

Question 26:

How long do you intend to stay in the U.S.?

- I mean I want to get married and live there. What should I write?

as a K1 we put there ..K1 visa process for permanent residence.

Question 27:

What is the purpose of your trip?

- ???

to marry my fiance/ to get married

Question 28:

Who will pay for your trip?

- I will pay for it. Do I have to provide any evidence for it?

my fiance told me to put his name on it.

Question 32:

Do you intend to work in the U.S.? (If yes, give the name and complete addresses of U.S. employers)

- of course I want to work in the U.S., but I want to start searching for a job once I will be there, so of course I don’t know where I will work yet. What should I write?

the purpose of the visa is to marry your fiance when u get there when ur applying for K1

so better to be safe than sorry.. u can plan on working or studying after you marry

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Yes but no immediate plans for work and school.

DON't leave any blanks. Put NONE or N/A where applicable.

Depends on the consulate. HCM, for example, is very specific - they don't want to you to enter province or country where the passport was issued - only the city. They also don't want you putting "none" or "n/a" in the "Other names used" box. I'm guessing this is because it confuses the software that reads the barcode.

Unfortunately, they don't tell you this stuff until you get the instructions for packet 4.

[masteryfic 0]

Yes but no immediate plans for work and school.

DON't leave any blanks. Put NONE or N/A where applicable.

Depends on the consulate. HCM, for example, is very specific - they don't want to you to enter province or country where the passport was issued - only the city. They also don't want you putting "none" or "n/a" in the "Other names used" box. I'm guessing this is because it confuses the software that reads the barcode.

Unfortunately, they don't tell you this stuff until you get the instructions for packet 4.

they dont want you to put NONE on the other names used?

i havent read that yet, is it available online where they say that?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Yes but no immediate plans for work and school.

DON't leave any blanks. Put NONE or N/A where applicable.

Depends on the consulate. HCM, for example, is very specific - they don't want to you to enter province or country where the passport was issued - only the city. They also don't want you putting "none" or "n/a" in the "Other names used" box. I'm guessing this is because it confuses the software that reads the barcode.

Unfortunately, they don't tell you this stuff until you get the instructions for packet 4.

they dont want you to put NONE on the other names used?

i havent read that yet, is it available online where they say that?

No, it's not in the online instructions, and this is specifically for the consulate in Ho Chi Minh. I don't know if other consulates have similar instructions. I just thought it was worth pointing out that a consulate may have specific instructions for this particular form because it's generated online, and contains a rectangular "2D" barcode that has all of the form information encoded into it. The consulates have a barcode reader that scans the form data into a computer, rather than having to manually enter the information from the form. I'm just guessing, but I think putting "none" in the "Other names used" field makes their computer software think that "none" is an alias you've used, and they might actually try to run a name check on it. As far as the passport issued city, I would imagine there are no two cities in the world with the same name where passports are issued, so they only need the name of the city. Why their software doesn't just ignore the other information is beyond me - perhaps their software can't automatically insert the info if it's already provided on the form.

I suspect the consulate in HCM hired a 6 year old to write their barcode software.

I wish USCIS and DoS would be consistent about their electronic forms. Many (most? ) are editable PDF's, but some will let you save data and some won't. On the ones you can't save, I print them to a Microsoft Office Image file so I can at least manually copy-and-paste to a new form if I make a mistake. Often times, you can't fit even a relatively short answer in the box provided, especially when they've chosen a huge font and won't let you change the font size. And there's no consistency. For example, on the DS-230 you can only enter one line of text for the father's address, but you can enter two lines of text for the mother's address. The boxes are the same size!

The barcode is a good idea. It reduces the chances of the keyboard monkey at the consulate making a mistake when they copy the data into their computers. Unfortunately, it means you MUST enter the info into the electronic form, and not manually write it in after printing, or it won't be included in the barcode. You also can't save the data in a format that's easy to resubmit. If you make a mistake, you have to enter everything into a new form.

[Stephen + Elisha 92]

Yes but no immediate plans for work and school.

DON't leave any blanks. Put NONE or N/A where applicable.

Depends on the consulate. HCM, for example, is very specific - they don't want to you to enter province or country where the passport was issued - only the city. They also don't want you putting "none" or "n/a" in the "Other names used" box. I'm guessing this is because it confuses the software that reads the barcode.

Unfortunately, they don't tell you this stuff until you get the instructions for packet 4.

they dont want you to put NONE on the other names used?

i havent read that yet, is it available online where they say that?

No, it's not in the online instructions, and this is specifically for the consulate in Ho Chi Minh. I don't know if other consulates have similar instructions.

Manila's instruction page for the DS-156 includes similar instructions: http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhevaf.html

I just thought it was worth pointing out that a consulate may have specific instructions for this particular form because it's generated online, and contains a rectangular "2D" barcode that has all of the form information encoded into it. The consulates have a barcode reader that scans the form data into a computer, rather than having to manually enter the information from the form. I'm just guessing, but I think putting "none" in the "Other names used" field makes their computer software think that "none" is an alias you've used, and they might actually try to run a name check on it.

I think DoS wised up to this at some point. When we filled out Elisha's DS-156 online, the 2D barcode page (Page 3) contained the following text:

FILTERED NAMES

When 'None' or 'NA' are entered into any of the following the fields: 'Other Surnames Used', 'Other First

and Middle Names Used', and 'National Identification Number', the text will be removed by the EVAF

software from the data in the 2D barcode. If the applicant's name actually is None or NA the post must

enter the name manually into NIV or RDS. The following fields have been removed:

- 'NONE' was removed from the 2D barcode for Item 8 (Other Surnames Used)

- 'NONE' was removed from the 2D barcode for Item 9 (Other First and Middle Names Used)

As far as the passport issued city, I would imagine there are no two cities in the world with the same name where passports are issued, so they only need the name of the city. Why their software doesn't just ignore the other information is beyond me - perhaps their software can't automatically insert the info if it's already provided on the form.

I suspect the consulate in HCM hired a 6 year old to write their barcode software.

I suspect it's some piece of garbage written stateside on a government contract that was delivered late, was obsolete before it ever came online, and cost the taxpayers some obscene amount of money.

I wish USCIS and DoS would be consistent about their electronic forms. Many (most? ) are editable PDF's, but some will let you save data and some won't. On the ones you can't save, I print them to a Microsoft Office Image file so I can at least manually copy-and-paste to a new form if I make a mistake.

In general, you can save data in the USCIS forms, but not in the DoS forms. In response to some of my fellow March VSCers who shared your frustration about the DoS visa forms not allowing entered data to be saved, I used my copy of Acrobat Professional to enable Adobe Reader usage rights and resaved the forms. This allows Adobe Reader users to save the data. The save-enabled forms are available in my signature.

Often times, you can't fit even a relatively short answer in the box provided, especially when they've chosen a huge font and won't let you change the font size. And there's no consistency. For example, on the DS-230 you can only enter one line of text for the father's address, but you can enter two lines of text for the mother's address. The boxes are the same size!

Agreed. This is a problem.

The barcode is a good idea. It reduces the chances of the keyboard monkey at the consulate making a mistake when they copy the data into their computers. Unfortunately, it means you MUST enter the info into the electronic form, and not manually write it in after printing, or it won't be included in the barcode. You also can't save the data in a format that's easy to resubmit. If you make a mistake, you have to enter everything into a new form.

[Frank+Qianqian 0]

This was taken off embassy website. http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/pakistan/niv_evaf.html

What if I make a mistake on the EVAF?

If you notice a mistake after you've scheduled your appointment, just make corrections to the form by hand, and the information will be updated in the database.

If you notice a mistake after you've scheduled your appointment, just make corrections to the form by hand, and the information will be updated in the database.