DS-160

[Hazah 0]

Has anyone in Ukraine tried to come visit the US this year? The new DS-160 form has a section talking about a passport book number AKA an inventory control number. Some passports have this along with the normal passport number, but some don't. In a Ukrainian international passport, where is this number located?

[mox 298]

Don't hold me to this, but I seem to remember that only biometric passports have the book number/inventory control. If the passport in question is biometric (and again, please double-check me on this) I think it's in the form of a barcode number.

Sorry I can't be more help, hopefully somebody else can step in with more definitive info.

[Hazah 0]

We just clicked "Does not apply".

This new form is a mixed blessing. You have to fill it out online but it will time out after 20 minutes and erase all info. To get around this you can save it and upload the file and resume. At the end the applicant has to click "submit" and print the confirmation page. If someone else is preparing the form for you, they are "supposed" to email you the saved file for you to upload and click submit. Supposedly the gov can trace the electronic signature.

However, my mother in law doesn't know English, she's on an old computer that's on dial up, and has no printer. So we searched online at in every instance they say you can have the preparer fill out the form, submit the application, print the confirmation page, and send that page in the mail to the applicant. But all of that is in contradiction to what's actually written on the form.

So it basically boils down to whether or not the embassy wants to be troublesome or not. It seems like common sense that it should be okay to do what we did, but government and common sense don't often go hand in hand. They're getting their money, that should be the only thing they care about.

[captainofiron 2]

Hi we are looking for the Passport book number for my inlaws who are trying to get visas to come for our wedding ceremony, so we have the same question except for a russian passport.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[Dakine10 5,452]

We just clicked "Does not apply".

This new form is a mixed blessing. You have to fill it out online but it will time out after 20 minutes and erase all info. To get around this you can save it and upload the file and resume. At the end the applicant has to click "submit" and print the confirmation page. If someone else is preparing the form for you, they are "supposed" to email you the saved file for you to upload and click submit. Supposedly the gov can trace the electronic signature.

However, my mother in law doesn't know English, she's on an old computer that's on dial up, and has no printer. So we searched online at in every instance they say you can have the preparer fill out the form, submit the application, print the confirmation page, and send that page in the mail to the applicant. But all of that is in contradiction to what's actually written on the form.

So it basically boils down to whether or not the embassy wants to be troublesome or not. It seems like common sense that it should be okay to do what we did, but government and common sense don't often go hand in hand. They're getting their money, that should be the only thing they care about.

If they don't have a printer, there is an option after submitting to send a copy of the confirmation to email. It automatically goes to the email you enter on the DS-160 and you can add additional emails. You can then print and send the confirmation by mail if neccessary.

We had the same issues with my inlaws in Sevastopol. We sent them the save file and then we loaded up the save file on our computer so we were filling out duplicate forms. Walked them through page by page. I was explaining to my wife what to do and then she was translating over he phone in Russian to her mom. Took about 4 hours b/c the damn form kept timing out for us and then for them. Timed out even while we were in the middle of typing. I hope they get that glitch fixed soon.

Anyways everything worked out fine in the end. We did it that way because we didn't want to take a chance with the electronic signature. It would work a lot better if we could just submit the form and they could sign it at the embassy.

My mother in laws passport also had a passport book number. They're asleep now so I'll check in the morning and let you know where the number is located is and what passport type it is.

[Dakine10 5,452]

We just clicked "Does not apply".

This new form is a mixed blessing. You have to fill it out online but it will time out after 20 minutes and erase all info. To get around this you can save it and upload the file and resume. At the end the applicant has to click "submit" and print the confirmation page. If someone else is preparing the form for you, they are "supposed" to email you the saved file for you to upload and click submit. Supposedly the gov can trace the electronic signature.

However, my mother in law doesn't know English, she's on an old computer that's on dial up, and has no printer. So we searched online at in every instance they say you can have the preparer fill out the form, submit the application, print the confirmation page, and send that page in the mail to the applicant. But all of that is in contradiction to what's actually written on the form.

So it basically boils down to whether or not the embassy wants to be troublesome or not. It seems like common sense that it should be okay to do what we did, but government and common sense don't often go hand in hand. They're getting their money, that should be the only thing they care about.

Oops, sorry. Didn't notice your post was from March. Did they get the visa OK?

[slim 1,525]

There should be an internet cafe or Kinkos type office in the larger cities. Have MIL print the stuff out there.