Trouble with "electronic DS-156"
Dec 21st 2003, 10:43 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 48
Trouble with "electronic DS-156"
Hi,
I've been having some problems with the new web based form DS-156 available from http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web...electronic.htm or direct from https://evisaforms.state.gov/ds156.asp?lang=1
It seems the London Consulate prefers non-immigrant visa applicants to use the web based form (as opposed to the fill-in-able Acrobat PDF version), since it creates bar codes that speed their visa processing a bit.
The online form usually won't load at all: "The page cannot be displayed". When it does load, you can fill it in OK. Pressing the Continue button seems to activate the attempted generation of an Acrobat PDF for you to print out. Often the processed form is never displayed, just a completely blank screen. When it does try to download the completed form, my version of Acrobat 6.0.1 states that the returned file is the wrong format or corrupted and won't display it.
I've had friends try and complete the form from their computers at different locations and they see the same problems. We are all using software versions and settings that should work fine according to http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web...electronic.htm
Has anyone else had similar problems with the "electronic DS-156", or had it work successfully?
If anyone did get it to work, how and what versions of Internet Explorer and Adobe Acrobat are you using?
I'm using IE 6.0 SP2 and Acrobat 6.0.1.
Since the web site states "Failure to complete the forms on-line will considerably delay your application" I'm obviously very keen to get the damn thing working.
Has anyone had experience of any recent delays because they submitted the non-barcode version of DS-156?
Thanks in advance for any help or experience you've had with this.
I've been having some problems with the new web based form DS-156 available from http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web...electronic.htm or direct from https://evisaforms.state.gov/ds156.asp?lang=1
It seems the London Consulate prefers non-immigrant visa applicants to use the web based form (as opposed to the fill-in-able Acrobat PDF version), since it creates bar codes that speed their visa processing a bit.
The online form usually won't load at all: "The page cannot be displayed". When it does load, you can fill it in OK. Pressing the Continue button seems to activate the attempted generation of an Acrobat PDF for you to print out. Often the processed form is never displayed, just a completely blank screen. When it does try to download the completed form, my version of Acrobat 6.0.1 states that the returned file is the wrong format or corrupted and won't display it.
I've had friends try and complete the form from their computers at different locations and they see the same problems. We are all using software versions and settings that should work fine according to http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web...electronic.htm
Has anyone else had similar problems with the "electronic DS-156", or had it work successfully?
If anyone did get it to work, how and what versions of Internet Explorer and Adobe Acrobat are you using?
I'm using IE 6.0 SP2 and Acrobat 6.0.1.
Since the web site states "Failure to complete the forms on-line will considerably delay your application" I'm obviously very keen to get the damn thing working.
Has anyone had experience of any recent delays because they submitted the non-barcode version of DS-156?
Thanks in advance for any help or experience you've had with this.
Dec 22nd 2003, 2:56 am
#2
Just Joined
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4
Re: Trouble with "electronic DS-156"
The site was down earlier, but it is up again now. However, when I complete the form and click 'contine', I just get a blank page. Can't seem to generate the bar code.
Dec 22nd 2003, 4:01 pm
#3
Just Joined
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4
Re: Trouble with "electronic DS-156"
I gave up with Internet Explorer. It works perfectly with Netscape. I have version 7.1
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Dec 22nd 2003, 6:42 pm
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 207
Re: Trouble with "electronic DS-156"
Mozilla/5 ( Mozilla 1.2.1 ) + Acrobat 5.0 works perfectly
Dec 26th 2003, 4:46 am
#5
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 48
Re: Trouble with "electronic DS-156"
The form not appearing in the first place is independent of browser, that particular website just seems to disappear sometimes.
I tried using Netscape and Mozilla as well. The final PDF with the bar codes are generated and displayed in my Acrobat 6.01 OK.
They appear to work fine, well, apart from Q.35 that is. This asks if you've ever had a Visa revoked or cancelled and has radio buttons for Yes or No. Using Netscape and Mozilla, if you click on the "No" button, the "Yes" radio button is selected and won't let it be changed to select "No".
So the PDF is generated with a (potentially) incorrect entry that would be easy to miss if you don't look carefully at the resulting PDF. Ironically, all the radio buttons work fine in Internet Explorer.
My own guess is that there's something corrupt about the way Internet Explorer 6 SP2 is passing the JavaScript output to their server for processing. You can view the JavaScript source used on the page with Netscape Navigator, but not with IE, by the way. The display of the final PDF should be very straight forward, Acrobat just tries to display what it's sent after all. The damage is done before Acrobat gets a look in.
I've mentioned al these "electronic DS-156" woes to the U.S. consulate via http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/visa/moreinfo.htm and their response was underwhelming. They're not responsible for the form after all I suppose. They did say that it was OK to use the original 2 page PDF DS-156 form without the bar codes: I just hope it doesn't delay the processing of my visa too much.
Anyone else noticed the Q.35 radio button problem when using Netscape and Mozilla?
I tried using Netscape and Mozilla as well. The final PDF with the bar codes are generated and displayed in my Acrobat 6.01 OK.
They appear to work fine, well, apart from Q.35 that is. This asks if you've ever had a Visa revoked or cancelled and has radio buttons for Yes or No. Using Netscape and Mozilla, if you click on the "No" button, the "Yes" radio button is selected and won't let it be changed to select "No".
So the PDF is generated with a (potentially) incorrect entry that would be easy to miss if you don't look carefully at the resulting PDF. Ironically, all the radio buttons work fine in Internet Explorer.
My own guess is that there's something corrupt about the way Internet Explorer 6 SP2 is passing the JavaScript output to their server for processing. You can view the JavaScript source used on the page with Netscape Navigator, but not with IE, by the way. The display of the final PDF should be very straight forward, Acrobat just tries to display what it's sent after all. The damage is done before Acrobat gets a look in.
I've mentioned al these "electronic DS-156" woes to the U.S. consulate via http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/visa/moreinfo.htm and their response was underwhelming. They're not responsible for the form after all I suppose. They did say that it was OK to use the original 2 page PDF DS-156 form without the bar codes: I just hope it doesn't delay the processing of my visa too much.
Anyone else noticed the Q.35 radio button problem when using Netscape and Mozilla?
Last edited by powburn; Dec 26th 2003 at 4:49 am.
Dec 26th 2003, 10:16 am
#6
Just Joined
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4
Re: Trouble with "electronic DS-156"
Yes, I had the same problem with Question 35. As time was running out to get my application in, it was either send the non bar code form (IE) or the bar code form (Netscape/Mozilla) with Question 35 wrong. In the end I went with the latter because it did say that not having the bar code would significantly delay processing. The application went in on the 23rd, I will post back when I get the results.
