Visa for attending university conference

[iamvidhi]

Hello, I am a Phd Candidate. I have been invited to present a paper at an international conference by a University in the US. My problem is that I will get only partial funding from my institute. In that case, I will bear 60% of the cost myself. How do I go about filling the DS -160 form for B1 visa.

Another problem is that the funding agencies will take time to reply. I may or may not get the sponsorship. But I want to go ahead with the visa application so that I can book the tickets before the prices rise sharply. Please guide me on how to go about this situation.

[coolman578]

Per my understanding, foremost you need few things:
1. Invitation Letter from USA (in your case it could be Letter of Invitation from US University)
2. Sufficient Bank Balance in order to show how you will meet your expenses in USA
Once you have all requisite documents ready, then only you apply for your visa. You can do Pseudo ticket booking of your Air Tickets and Hotel (this is not a big deal).
I advise you make your travel and other arrangements only after your visa is approved.
Since you a Ph.D. Student and invited by USA University, i personally think chances of Visa rejection should be less, but at same time you need to show you have sufficient bank balance with you as your sponsorship is only partially funded. Apart from this, you also need to prove the Visa Consular that you intend to come back once conference is over and have no plans to stay there.

Hope this helps.