tracyboyce

Hi everyone.
Family and I have received our approval notice for H-1b and H-4 visas. Our consulate interview is on July 9th. All seemed pretty straight forward and hassle free until I went through the questions on the DS-156

The questions I'm finding difficult to answer are:
1. Question 24, At what address do you intend to stay in the US? (If we haven't secured an address in the US prior to our interview, how can I complete this?)

2. Question 14, What is a National Identification Number?

3. Question 26, How long do we intend to stay?

4. Question 33, for our children (all under 11), do we need to enter the name and address of the school we hope they attend? (You can't secure school placements until you have secured a residence within the 'catchment' area).

I realise these questions must look pretty simple, but I have seven of these forms to complete, I really don't want to get this wrong.

Thank you in advance for any advice given

Noorah101

Unknown.

Some countries provide their citizens with a National ID Number. You'll know if you have one. If you don't have one, write "none".

Well, how long DO you intend to stay? 1 year? 3 years? 6 years? I realize it's an open-ended question, I guess, not knowing how long the employment will last....but put how long you *intend* to stay. Whether it works out for that long or not, no way of knowing.

Best Wishes,
Rene

J. J. Farrell

On Jun 28, 6:48 am, tracyboyce <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
> Family and I have received our approval notice for H-1b and H-4
> visas. Our consulate interview is on July 9th. All seemed pretty
> straight forward and hassle free until I went through the questions
> on the DS-156
>
> The questions I'm finding difficult to answer are:
> 1. Question 24, At what address do you intend to stay in the US? (If we
> haven't secured an address in the US prior to our interview, how can I
> complete this?)

Are you planning camping in the airport when you arrive? Surely you're
going to some address? If you've nothing better, I'd put c/o the
empoyer's address.

> 2. Question 14, What is a National Identification Number?

If you haven't got one, put 'none'. UK citizens could put their
National Insurance numbers.

> 3. Question 26, How long do we intend to stay?

Seems simple enough. Put however long you plan to stay, but no longer
than authorized by the H-1B petition.

> 4. Question 33, for our children (all under 11), do we need to enter
> the name and address of the school we hope they attend? (You can't
> secure school placements until you have secured a residence within the
> 'catchment' area).

If you don't know, you don't know. I'd put 'not yet known'.

tracyboyce

Thank you both for your input, it's really appreciated.
I can tell from this forum alone, after a couple of searches, that there are many people who have questions about this form. At last I don't feel alone on this one!

I feel I must also apologise for not making my first question very clear. We are not leaving the UK (Visa permitting) until September/October this year. I am pretty sure we will have secured a place to live by then. We have a few options (addresses) open to us as we speak. My question was, do we need to have secured an address by the date of our interview at the US Consulate, which is July 9th. Not whether we need to secure an address before arriving in the US itself.

I am hoping that there are still more words of wisdom amongst you, that you wouldn't mind sharing with me.

Thanks everyone

scrubbedexpat099

You would be silly to commit to a property without a visa.

National Identification number is not your National Insurance Number. UK does not have the former.

tracyboyce

That is exactly my point. Why would we have secured an address without a visa?
I just don't understand why they wish to know this information, if like you say, and as I agree, that it would be rather foolish to do this.

Do I just leave it blank, put "none", either?
Would these answers cause our application to be denied or delayed?

Again, I thank all who have replied and in advance of any further help with all four of my queries.

dave2702

I just put my employers address, it's only there so they know where to find you. You'll have a great deal of difficulty in securing an address prior to getting to the US especially without a Social Security Number.

So you'll probably be living in extended stay location for a couple of weeks when your arrive, but apartments are plentiful so once you get your ssn you'll have no problem finding a place to live

Noorah101

No, you don't have to secure an address by the date of your interview. Just demonstrate that you are putting some effort into finding one.

Rene

J. J. Farrell

On Jun 29, 7:34 am, tracyboyce <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > You would be silly to commit to a property without a visa.
>
> > National Identification number is not your National Insurance Number.
> > UK does not have the former.
>
> That is exactly my point. Why would we have secured an address without
> a visa?
> I just don't understand why they wish to know this information, if like
> you say, and as I agree, that it would be rather foolish to do this.

Get used to that feeling - you'll have it time after time when dealing
with USA immigration. It appears that in practice they don't care in
the slightest about much of the information they ask for; the trick is
to know which bits they do care about, and no-one but them really
knows that.

> Do I just leave it blank, put "none", either?

I'd put c/o your empoyer's address.

> Would these answers cause our application to be denied or delayed?

Very unlikely as long as the answers are sensible.

fatbrit

Go on the web and find the address of any Marriott close to the airport. Put that in the address space.

Wendy22

We were advised to put the company's name and address by their lawyer even though we had a good idea where we'd be staying. Don't forget when you buy the tickets and then you're actually on the plane filling out the landing card you also have to provide the same address. I'm pretty sure to avoid any problems all these addresses have to match. Rather than choose a random hotel or rental that might fall through put the company address as that's the one constant.

For the length of your stay put the length of the visa validity which I guess is 3 years in your case.

cybersecretary

Hi there - my family and I are moving out on 1 August, we have been told we cant rent a property until we have the visa.

scrubbedexpat099

Rubbish

There are 12 to 20 million people here with no visa, no passport etc.

They manage OK.

Some Towns, 2 I can think of have passed laws requiring landlords to substantiate legal presence. None in CA.

tracyboyce

Thanks everyone for all your input, and my apologies for not saying so sooner.
My family and I returned from London on Monday after an extremely long wait outside and inside the US Embassy. 5.5 hours! and that's with an appointment!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, everything went fine and this morning all seven of our visas arrived in the post.

Thanks to some great advice on this forum our application process went without complication and minimum stress.

Thanks again

dave2702

Well that's kind of true you may have problems renting a property until you get a Social Security Number and you won't get an SSN until you get a visa.

I booked the 1st couple of weeks in an extended stay hotel whilst I got my SSN sorted and then could look for apartments.

Rental property isn't like the UK there are huge blocks of available property and you can move in within days so accomodation isn't a problem