The DS-260: your immigrant visa application
The DS-260 is the online immigrant visa application every consular applicant completes before the embassy interview. It costs $325 per person, unlocks after you pay the NVC fee, and asks for a full life history, including five years of social media handles. Accuracy and consistency here shape the interview.
One form per person, unlocked by the fee
The DS-260 is filed through the Consular Electronic Application Center at ceac.state.gov, and it is strictly per-applicant: a mother and two children immigrating together complete three DS-260s and pay the $325 fee three times. The form stays locked until the National Visa Center invoices your case and you pay the immigrant visa fee, so the practical order is always welcome letter first, fees second, DS-260 third.
You can save your progress and return, and for long-form questions like address history that flexibility matters. The form times out quickly, so save often.
What the form walks through
At a high level, the DS-260 covers five territories. Personal and family information: names ever used, birth details, everyone in your immediate family, and your petitioner. Address and contact history: every place you have lived since age 16, plus phone numbers and email addresses. Work and education: your jobs and schools, with dates. Travel and prior U.S. history: previous visits, visas, refusals, or immigration trouble. And the security questions: a long series about criminal history, health grounds, prior removals, and similar issues, each of which must be answered truthfully even when the truthful answer is uncomfortable.
A yes answer to a security question is not automatically the end of a case; some grounds have waivers. A false no, discovered later, is far worse than most true yeses.
The social media question is real. The DS-260 requires the handles or usernames you have used on listed social media platforms during the past five years. Do not guess and do not omit an account because it is inactive or embarrassing. Officers can and do compare online presence with the story your case tells, especially in marriage cases.
Consistency with the I-130 record
By the time you complete a DS-260, your file already contains an I-130 petition, supporting documents, and often years of history. The consular officer reads all of it. Dates of the relationship, addresses, jobs, prior marriages, children: everything on the DS-260 should match that record, and where life has genuinely changed, the change should be explainable, not hidden. Unexplained contradictions between the petition and the DS-260 are among the most common reasons interviews turn hostile.
This is why we prepare the DS-260 against the actual filed I-130, page by page, rather than from memory. If your petition was filed years ago, get a copy of what was actually submitted before you answer anything.
Made a mistake? Fixing the DS-260
Before you sign and submit, review every section, because CEAC locks the form on submission. After submission, you can ask NVC to reopen the form for corrections while the case is still at NVC; once the case moves to the embassy, corrections are typically handled at the interview, where you can tell the officer what needs updating before you swear to the contents. Small typos are routine. A substantive error, like a forgotten prior marriage or an old visa refusal answered wrong, deserves proactive correction and, often, legal advice on how to present it.
Keep the confirmation page after submitting. You will bring it to the interview.
After you submit
Submitting the DS-260 is one of three tracks NVC must see completed, alongside fees and civil documents uploaded to CEAC with certified translations and police certificates per the reciprocity tables at travel.state.gov. When all three pass review, the case becomes documentarily qualified and waits for interview scheduling. The medical exam with a panel physician happens after the appointment letter arrives, and the interview itself is where the DS-260 comes back to life: officers work from it question by question. Answer at the interview the way you answered on the form, because you already told the truth there.
Where the DS-260 fits
See the whole consular pathway, from USCIS approval through NVC to the embassy interview and entry with an immigrant visa.
The NVC stage
Welcome letters, invoices, CEAC uploads, and documentarily qualified status: the stage the DS-260 lives inside.
Money questions
The $325 DS-260 fee is only part of the picture. See every government fee on the consular route, plus our flat attorney fees.
Common questions
Does every family member file a DS-260?
Yes. The DS-260 is per-applicant, so each spouse and child immigrating pays $325 and completes their own form. Parents complete the forms for young children, but the answers still have to be accurate for that child.
Why is my DS-260 locked?
The form only opens after NVC creates your case and you pay the immigrant visa application fee through CEAC. If you paid recently, allow the payment to process. If the case was just created, wait for the welcome letter with your invoice ID before trying to log in.
Do I really have to list old social media accounts?
Yes, the form requires handles used on listed platforms in the past five years, active or not. Leaving one out is a misrepresentation risk that dwarfs whatever is on the account. If something online worries you, raise it with a lawyer before filing rather than hiding it.
What if my DS-260 does not match my I-130?
Genuine life changes (new job, new address, a new child) are fine and expected; just be ready to explain them. Contradictions on core facts, like relationship dates or prior marriages, are serious. Review the filed petition before submitting and correct discrepancies deliberately, not at the interview under pressure.
Can I change answers after submitting?
While the case sits at NVC you can ask for the form to be reopened. After it moves to the embassy, bring corrections to the interview and tell the officer before you take the oath on the application. Substantive corrections are best planned with counsel.
Get the DS-260 right the first time
We prepare every answer against your actual I-130 record, flag anything sensitive before the government sees it, and prep you for the interview it feeds.