The American visa has a bright and memorable design and opens up many opportunities for the holder. Unfortunately, the information on it is far from always indicated in an intuitive way, which is why many travelers periodically have problems reading this document. Therefore, it is worth finding out exactly where the US visa number is indicated and in what situations it may be needed.
Information contained in the visa
Consider how a visa issued in Russia to enter the United States usually looks.
This photo contains all important information fields, namely:
- The name of the city in which the visa was issued. As of 2021, the Russian Federation has an embassy in Moscow and two consulates general - in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg.
- Recipient's surname (in Latin, as in a foreign passport).
- Recipient's name: for citizens of the Russian Federation, the name and patronymic are indicated in Latin letters.
- Passport number - for Russians, this column must indicate the number of the foreign passport presented along with the visa upon entry. This number must be indicated without spaces.
- Gender - can be specified as male (M, Male) or female (F, Female).
- Permitted number of entries on a visa. It can be M (Multiple) - multiple entry or S (Single) - single border crossing.
- Date of visa issue - the day on which a positive decision was made to issue an entry permit.
- Notes - any marks that the representatives of the diplomatic mission consider necessary to make on the visa. For example, work visas can indicate the employer, and study visas - the name of the university and the details of the SEVIS permit. Any restrictions on movement within the country or prohibitions on engaging in any kind of activity are recorded in the same paragraph. The CLEARANCE RECEIVED mark is also put here - for persons who underwent an additional administrative check at the time of filing an application. Usually scientists, teachers, the military and others associated with the military-industrial complex or the high-tech sector have to go through it.
- Control Number - Some travelers confuse it with a visa number, but in essence the Control Number is the "case number" assigned by the consulate to your visa application, which is then used to track it. After issuing permission, this number will most likely not be useful to you.
- Type and class of visa. The letter R here means that the visa refers to a regular (Regular), and not a diplomatic or service passport. The rest of the designations are associated with the class of the document and in most cases take the values B1 (business visa), B2 (tourist permit) or B1 / B2 (combined permit, allowing you to engage in both tourism and business).
- Recipient's date of birth.
- Citizenship of the holder of the document.
- The expiry date of the permit. Please note that this date marks the last day that the holder of the document is allowed to cross the US border. In this case, the duration of the visit is determined at the customs control point according to the data specified in the I-94 form (or its online version).
- It is at this point that everyone who is wondering how to find out the number of an American visa should first of all look. This entry, highlighted in red, is the official permit number. It usually consists of one Latin letter and seven numbers. It is worth remembering that this number is indicated only in the visa itself - it is not entered in the foreign passport.
- A control line, in which the first line contains the surname and name of the visa holder, and the second line sequentially contains the number of his passport, citizenship, date of birth, gender and a digital code in which other information is encrypted. This string is generated and read by the computer and in most cases it is not worth paying attention to.
- There can be from one to three asterisks under the photo. Many seasoned travelers claim that this number indicates the level of risk of illegal immigration and other illegal activities. This level is determined by a combination of age, gender, nationality and previously visited countries. The more stars on your visa, the more chances you have to face the full verification procedure when visiting the country. So, the owner of one star, most likely, will cross the border without problems, two stars can lead to an additional interview, and three will mean a full inspection and meticulous check of all documents. Nevertheless, representatives of the official US migration services in their comments have repeatedly stated that the asterisks do not carry any important information and are intended to check for defects on machines that print ready-made visas, as well as to distribute ready-made documents to various receiving trays. So, most likely, you should not worry about the large number of stars - but it is also better to be always ready for an interview.
When you need to know the number
Directly for crossing the US border, knowing your visa number will most likely not be useful: they will check the presence of a document and the correspondence of its type to the purpose of your visit. However, there are a number of situations in life when you still need to use your visa number. These include:
- Completing Form DS-160 for Subsequent Visas - it will include the numbers of all previously issued US visas to you so that the consulate can track how correctly you used them.
- Booking an air ticket - some companies, when booking a ticket for a flight to the United States, require you to indicate not only the usual passport number in such cases, but also your visa number.
- Renting a car in the United States - a car is the most convenient way to travel around this country, and the standard questionnaire of rental agencies very often requires you to provide a visa number.
- Registration of passes to conferences and other events - usually in the application form that you need to fill out to obtain a pass, you have to indicate the number of the visa permit to visit the country.
- Obtaining a health insurance policy - all American insurers require foreign citizens to indicate a visa number when issuing policies.
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How to check errors and fix them
As soon as you receive a ready-made visa, it is worth comparing all the information indicated in it with the data from your foreign passport. Most often, errors happen:
- in the surname or first name;
- in the date of birth;
- in the document number;
- in the visa class.
A mistake in any of these points may result in your being denied entry into the USA. Therefore, if you find a mistake, you should immediately make an appointment with the consulate.
To do this, you need to use the feedback form on the Ustraveldocs website (where you most likely left your initial visa application and created your personal account). In your appeal, tell us in detail about the essence of the error you found, and also attach scans of your visa and foreign passport to it.
In the e-mail attached to your profile, you will soon find instructions on how to proceed.
Separately, it is worth considering the case when you discovered an error in the application form before receiving a ready-made visa. In such a situation, you should first track your application. This can be done on the CEAC website by entering the UID received during the registration of the application, or on the Pony Express website using the AWB number, which is indicated in the confirmation letter.
If your package of documents has not yet been delivered to the consulate, you have the opportunity to make an appointment and submit corrections.If the visa is already on its way to you, then it makes sense to first wait for the finished document, and then use the above-described error correction method.
To check the status of the visa application, you can also use e-mail - for this you need to write a letter to [email protected] and indicate both in the subject and in the body of the letter your passport number (without spaces).
The letter should not contain any other characters (which means that you need to remove the auto signature from it, if any). In a few minutes you will receive a response message, which will indicate the status of processing your application.
Conclusion
If you have a question, where is the US visa number, it is located to the right of the bottom edge of the photo. It is usually highlighted in red and consists of one letter and seven numbers.
You need to know this number in order to obtain insurance, rent a car, book tickets and obtain subsequent visas.
If you find errors in the finished document, you should immediately apply for their correction. Otherwise, your trip to the United States may end up at passport control.
