Fill forms DS156 & 157

[amitwadkar]

I have some questions with respect to filling DS 156 and 157 forms for B2 tourist visas. I have filled these online.

1) On immihelp as well as US consulate sites(Mumbai, Delhi etc.), i saw it mentioned that for any columns you should not answer NA(Not Applicable). However, when you go to fill these forms online, the instructions besides the questions clearly mention that please write NA if not applicable. For eg:- columns 8, 9 on DS-156, columns 9, 12, 13 on 157. Please advice as it seems contradictory.

2) On DS 156, under column 20, it is asked "Are you employed or studying?". If you select "NO", the sections below for filling employer name, address info gets greyed out and "NA" appears under all columns. However when you take a print, the "NA" is not displayed and column 20 appears "Blank". How can a person fill this column if he is not employed or studying? Is it that he/she should scribble with pen on top of the forms coz you cant leave any columns blank.

3) Can you overwrite on the form printouts with a pen if you have missed something. Like i forgot to put in my mom's maiden name. Now I cant go in and edit the same on DS 156 as it is non editable after you take the appointment. (PS: I saw it mentioned on the delhi consulate website ,, that is perfectly fine to overwrite the forms, however nothings under Mumbai. Also i thought the whole concept of this online thing was for them to pull this info u have filled when they scan the bar code, so dunno if you overwrite the forms how it will help). Please advice.

I guess you guys at immihelp are doing a fabulous job for educating people abt the whole process, as the consulate sites somewhat lack in info.

Thanks in advance for ur help.

Amit

[amitwadkar]

Reply from VFS for Ques. 3

Just checked my mail...I had asked Question 3 in my above post to "[email protected]", their reply being as below:

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Dear Sir / Madam

Thank you for your mail.

Kindly note Q.No.1 - Q.No.14 on DS-156 cannot be modified. You are requested to take the print-outs of the visa application forms as they are printed and do not make any manual changes on them.

When you visit the VFS centre to submit the documents, you can inform the concerned officer regarding the said error. They will do the needful.

Regards,

VFS Team

NS.

[immihelp]

The idea is to have the complete information in the form.

Instructions about writing N/A or not writing N/A really refers to the form that is filled out by hand.

When you fill the form by hand, the consular officer does not know whether you intentionally left the field blank where you should have put some answer, or it is indeed supposed to be blank.

However, when you are filling the form online, the computer program can take care of which fields are required. Based on the answer to some question, subsequent few questions may not be related and therefore, the program may put N/A or leave it blank or whatever it is.

Therefore, don't worry about whether an online forms leaves some field blank, or puts N/A or does not put N/A, as long as you correctly put all the information asked for.

By the way, the VFS email reply you posted here is answering something totally different than what you are asking originally.

[amitwadkar]

VFS response to Ques 3

Thanks for your reply.

The VFS response was to my question 3 in my original post i.e. whether you can overwrite with pen on printout for fields (1-14) on DS156 which are noneditable after you take appointment (I forgot to put in moms maiden name and later wanted to edit but cant as it is non editable). They seem to mention that you cannot.

Regards