C4.23 US Visa¶
How to Apply for a US Visa and EVUS in the UK?
A flight from London to New York takes only about 8 hours. The requirements for a US tourist visa really change quite frequently.
Reminder: After the 2014 APEC Summit, all approved US tourist visas have been issued with a 10-year validity period.
Starting from 29 November 2016, all individuals holding a People’s Republic of China (PRC) passport and a valid maximum-validity (10-year) B1/B2, B1, or B2 visa must complete a valid EVUS enrollment to travel to the United States. In other words:
Before 29 November 2016, if you held a 10-year US visa, you could enter the US at any time without additional restrictions for tourism or business purposes.
After 29 November 2016, if you hold a PRC passport, you must complete EVUS enrollment in addition to your 10-year US visa.
If you applied for your US visa on or after November 2016, you need to enroll in EVUS before your first trip to the US.
Each EVUS enrollment is valid for 2 years. This means you do not need to re-enroll within the 2-year period and can enter the US directly. After the 2-year validity expires, you will need to re-enroll through the official EVUS website if you wish to enter the US again.
You must be wondering: What exactly is EVUS? Why do PRC passport holders need to enroll, while holders of other passports do not?
Well, you’re right. Currently, only PRC passport holders are required to comply with the EVUS enrollment requirement—holders of other passports are exempt. This includes travelers holding passports from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan, who are not subject to EVUS restrictions and do not need to enroll.
What Exactly Is EVUS?
What is the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS)?
Answer: It is an online system for regularly updating personal basic information. Its full English name is Electronic Visa Update System, abbreviated as EVUS. Starting from 29 November 2016, users are required to fill in their information on EVUS. The information required is simple, such as name, date of birth, passport details, other personal information, and work information.
Each EVUS enrollment is valid for 2 years. After the 2-year validity period expires, you must re-enroll if you wish to enter the United States again. Enrollment in EVUS is mandatory—only after completing enrollment can you enter the United States.
The EVUS enrollment system is available in both Chinese and English versions. However, all holders of 10-year valid B1/B2, B1, or B2 visas must fill in the EVUS questions in English.
What Exactly Is EVUS?
What is the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS)?
Answer: It is an online system for regularly updating personal basic information. Its full English name is Electronic Visa Update System, abbreviated as EVUS. Starting from 29 November 2016, users are required to fill in their information on EVUS. The information required is simple, such as name, date of birth, passport details, other personal information, and work information.
Each EVUS enrollment is valid for 2 years. After the 2-year validity period expires, you must re-enroll if you wish to enter the United States again. Enrollment in EVUS is mandatory—only after completing enrollment can you enter the United States.
The EVUS enrollment system is available in both Chinese and English versions. However, all holders of 10-year valid B1/B2, B1, or B2 visas must fill in the EVUS questions in English.
Is There a Fee for EVUS Enrollment?
Answer: Whether a fee is charged and how much it is depends on the current policy.
Starting from 29 November, all travelers holding a People’s Republic of China passport with a 10-year valid B1/B2, B1, or B2 visa must complete EVUS enrollment before traveling to the United States. Generally, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not charge a fee for EVUS enrollment. CBP anticipates that an EVUS enrollment fee will eventually be implemented, but there is currently no timeline for when the fee will take effect.
Travelers can submit an EVUS enrollment application at any time. A response from the system is usually received within a few minutes after submitting the information; however, some responses may take up to 72 hours. CBP encourages travelers to apply for EVUS enrollment when they start planning their U.S. trip to avoid delays.
Where to Enroll in EVUS?
Answer: https://www.evus.gov/
Reminder: Even if you select the Chinese language option, all information in your EVUS enrollment must be filled out in English, except when the official system explicitly prompts you to use Chinese.
ShishengMao’s reminder: Remember to use English letters when filling in the information. Only use Chinese if prompted—for example, when filling in a home address that involves Chinese characters, the official page will remind you that Chinese can be used here. For all other sections without a prompt, use English letters.
After submitting the enrollment, you will usually receive a response within 72 hours indicating whether the enrollment was successful or failed. However, you should refresh the page to check the status after about 1 hour and continue checking periodically. Most "Pending" responses will be updated to "Enrolled" or "Enrollment Unsuccessful" within one hour. If enrollment fails, the reasons will be listed for you.
A successful EVUS enrollment does not guarantee entry into the United States. It only proves that you are eligible to travel to the U.S. using your 10-year valid B1, B2, or B1/B2 visitor visa. When you arrive in the U.S., you will be inspected by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the port of entry. The officer may decide to deny you entry for any reason as permitted by U.S. law.
Pre-Enrollment Note 1: Confirm Your Eligibility
Before starting an individual enrollment, first confirm whether you need to enroll. All international travelers holding a 10-year valid U.S. visitor visa and wishing to travel to the U.S. must enroll in EVUS.
To enroll in EVUS, you must meet the following criteria:
You are a Chinese citizen.
You hold a valid Chinese passport.
Your purpose of travel to the U.S. is short-term business or tourism.
If you meet the above, you are required to complete EVUS enrollment.
Pre-Enrollment Note 2: Prepare Required Materials
Before enrolling, prepare the following items. If you have a good memory, you can fill in the information directly (using English letters):
A valid Chinese passport.
A 10-year valid U.S. visa.
The visa category must be one of the following: B1, B2, or B1/B2.
Your contact information, including your address at the U.S. destination.
Does This Affect Current Visa Holders, New Applicants, or Both?
Answer: Both are affected by this new regulation.
Applicants who hold a 10-year valid B1/B2, B1, or B2 visa issued before November 2016 must log in to EVUS to enroll after the regulation takes effect to use the visa.
Applicants who obtained a 10-year valid B1/B2, B1, or B2 visa on or after November 2016 must enroll before their first trip to the United States.
Enrollment remains valid for two years for all applicants. If either the traveler’s visa or passport expires, the EVUS enrollment information becomes invalid. In such cases, the visa holder must log in to EVUS again to update their personal information before traveling to the United States.
What Are B1, B2, or B1/B2 Visas? How to Confirm My Visa Category?
Answer: B-category visas are general business and tourist visas for travel to the United States. Your visa category is displayed in the top right corner of your visa.
Moving on to the US Visa Application
Follow the steps below, and you can get your visa successfully within one week from application to approval.
ShishengMao’s reminder: For tourism, select the B2 visa option—this is the correct choice for tourist travel. The consular officers conducting the visa interviews are very approachable and will not ask overly difficult questions. Details about the interview process and the questions the officers may ask will be covered later.
Once you have completed and submitted all forms, no changes can be made. If you make a mistake, it will render the form invalid, and you will have to fill out a new one. Therefore, you must be careful and take your time—do not rush to submit.
Another reminder from ShishengMao (and also stated by the official authorities): In fact, the US visa application process is similar regardless of where you apply. When filling out the DS-160 form, please upload a non-retouched photo. Do not alter your skin tone, slim your face, enlarge your eyes, or wear colored contact lenses. This is to prevent immigration officers from being unable to identify you, which could result in you being denied entry to the United States.
Phase 1:
Open the website by entering the URL: https://ceac.state.gov/ceac/
The following page will appear.
2. Click on "DS-160 Form" as shown in the picture.
3. You will be directed to the following page, as shown in the picture.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand the English content—there is a Chinese translation function in the top right corner of the page above, which is very convenient. You just need to hover your mouse over the English sentences you don’t understand, and the Chinese translation will appear. As shown in the picture below:
4. Select the visa application center, then choose "England London".
U.S. Embassy in London Address
33 Nine Elms Lane, London
SW11 7US
ShishengMao’s Reminder:
Applicants from England and Scotland must apply for a U.S. visa in London.
Applicants from Northern Ireland should apply at the U.S. Visa Office in Belfast.
5. After making your selection, double-click "START AN APPLICATION", as shown in the picture below:
6. After double-clicking, the following page will appear. It will show your Application ID, which is extremely important. You must take a photo of it or write it down—otherwise, you may forget it. This ID is used for: continuing an application you started but didn’t finish (to be resumed in a few days), making corrections if you made a mistake, paying fees, and submitting your application.
7. Set up your security question. Choose one that you will easily remember, then take a photo of it. This will be used to retrieve your password later, as shown in the picture below:
8. If you accidentally click the back button, close the window, and lose the visa application page you were filling out, you can log back in by following Step 4 above, then double-click "RETRIEVE AN APPLICATION", as shown in the picture:
9. If you have completed a handwritten application form, you can double-click "UPLOAD AN APPLICATION" on the page from Step 4.
10. Return to Step 8. After answering the security question, click "AGREE". This will bring up numerous pages of application items—you must fill in true information for every item and not falsify any details.
ShishengMao’s Reminder:
If you have ever lost a passport or replaced a passport before, you must select the option indicating "lost/replaced passport" in the subsequent passport-related section of the form. You must provide truthful information, as the authorities will have access to your records. Any false information may result in visa denial.
11. After completing all forms and double-checking everything, click "Submit". A completion page will appear, with a prompt asking you to print documents. Printing is mandatory, but you only need to print the DS-160 Form Confirmation Page. Additionally, send a copy of this confirmation page to your email or save it to a cloud drive for backup.
Once printed, this form is completed. Proceed to the next phase: booking an appointment.
Second Phase: Booking an Appointment
Open the website and enter the URL: ais.usvisa-info.com
First, select the country. As shown in the picture, choose United Kingdom from the "Europe" region.
After clicking, you will be redirected to the following interface:
2. click Continue：
3. Click "Create a New Account" on the right, then proceed to book an appointment.
When booking, you will need to enter your previous DS-160 Application ID (from Step 7 of the first phase) and specify your visa type.
Next, choose whether to have your passport delivered by mail or collected in person. Mail delivery is recommended. Although it costs several tens of pounds, you need to fill in your postal code, address, phone number, and name accurately for delivery.
Then, select to pay your visa fee (over 100 pounds) online.
For booking the appointment time: there will be many time slots available, but it doesn’t matter which one you choose. You only need to arrive at the U.S. Embassy in London very early on that day—arrive as early as possible, because you will see an extremely long line of people waiting for their visa interviews, and you will soon join them.
However, there’s no need to worry too much about being late. Here’s a tip I discovered: whether you arrive early or slightly late, as long as the embassy is still open, you can join the line and will be seen eventually. For example, if your appointment is at 11 AM and you arrive at 10 AM, it’s fine—just get in line. That said, punctuality is still important. With so many people waiting, being late may cause problems, such as your application not being accepted.
After completing the booking, print the "Visa Application Instruction" page that appears, and click to send a copy to your email for safekeeping.
Reminder: If you have paid the fee, remember to print the payment receipt.
ShishengMao’s Reminder:
One account can be used to book appointments and make payments for multiple people. If you are traveling with others and apply for a visa interview together (for tourism purposes), the approval rate is almost 100%.
If you accidentally paid the visa fee but later find an error in your previously submitted application form and need to fill out a new one, the visa fee for the first form will not be refunded. In this case, after successfully completing the second application form, when you pay the visa fee again, click to "use the previously paid fee"—this way, you don’t need to pay again.
Final Phase: Documents to Bring to the Visa Officer on the Day
Passport (if you have an old passport, bring it along too).
U.S. standard square-sized passport photos with a white background. You can take these at self-service photo booths available in supermarkets across the UK. There are also self-service photo booths inside the embassy, and the price is the same. It costs a few pounds for a set of four photos—one will be submitted during the application, but it’s best to bring two as a backup. Prepare enough cash in advance. It’s recommended to avoid wearing earrings that are hard to remove, refrain from wearing all-white clothing, and do not apply heavy makeup.
The DS-160 form confirmation page printed in the first phase.
The Visa Application Instruction page printed in the second (booking) phase.
Valid UK visa and BRP (Biometric Residence Permit).
Student confirmation letter: Obtain this from your university’s student center, and ensure it is issued within the last month. Many university students can download and print their student confirmation letter online, which is very convenient.
For extra security, bring your bank statements from the last month (I wasn’t asked to submit mine, but some people were. I still brought mine just in case).
If you are not a student and hold another type of UK visa: Bring an employment letter issued within the last month and bank statements from the last three months.
If you have any past or current background in science and technology research: Prepare a copy of your CV (Curriculum Vitae) and a detailed list of your publications (Publication List).
If you are attending an academic conference: Bring a copy of the invitation letter.
For the specific documents required, it is generally correct to refer to the official document. The link is as follows:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html#documentation
Once you’re ready, it’s recommended to leave early to avoid being late.
ShishengMao’s Reminder:
Embassy security checks are very strict. You will be asked to unlock your phone, and security staff will check some of your social media apps to verify your name. Additionally, large items like suitcases and liquids are not allowed. During the security check, staff will give you a transparent plastic bag and ask you to put all metal items (including watches, necklaces, earrings, metal belts, keys, etc.), mobile phones, cameras, and other electronic devices into it. You must also remove your coat for inspection. All your items will be returned to you immediately after you pass the check. Note that photography is not allowed inside the embassy, and your mobile phone must be set to silent mode.
After the security check, queue up to hand your passport to the front desk staff. They will give you a queue number, and then you can go to the waiting area to sit and wait. The entire process is very fast—usually around 30 minutes and no longer than an hour. However, if there are many people, it may take a few hours.
About the Visa Interview Questions
First, go to the window corresponding to your queue number. The staff there will ask you to present all the documents listed above, confirm your basic information (such as your name), and then return your passport to you. Note that your confirmation forms and photos will not be returned. Next, you will be given a second queue number to wait for your interview with the consular officer.
When your second queue number is called, go to the assigned window and hand over the remaining documents (including your passport) to the consular officer. The officer will re-verify your information and ask the following types of questions:
For students: You may be asked, "Which university do you attend?", "What is your major?", and "Which province are you from?" If your remaining UK visa validity is relatively long, these three questions are usually the only ones you’ll get—especially if you’re applying with a group of travel companions.
If you’re applying alone: In addition to the questions about your university, major, and province, you may be asked a few more, such as "Where in the US do you plan to go?", "What will you do there?", "Do you have any friends in the US?", and "How long do you plan to stay?"
For non-students: You may be asked, "What is your job?", "Where do you work?", "How long have you been working there?", "How long will you stay in the US?", "What is the purpose of your trip?", "Where will you go?", "Which region are you from?", and "What do you do in the UK?"
In short, all questions are normal and simple—there’s no need to be nervous.
After the Visa Interview
The consular officer will tell you the result on the spot:
If your interview is successful: The officer will keep your passport. After that, you can go home. Your passport and 10-year tourist visa will be delivered to your home within 7 working days.
If your application is rejected: The officer will also inform you immediately and return your passport to you.