Tourist and Visitor Visa for United States (inbound): How to Apply
United States (inbound) · Americas
Tourist and Visitor Visa for United States (inbound)
What a U.S. citizen needs for a tourist and visitor visa to United States (inbound): the requirements, the exact document checklist with its authentication routing, where to file, what it costs and how long it takes.
- U.S. passport status
- Visa required
- Visa-free days
- None
- Document route
- Apostille
- Translation
- Required
- Short-stay fee
- $185
- Schengen area
- No
What United States (inbound) specifically requires
B-2 visitor for pleasure, or ESTA for Visa Waiver Program nationals. Up to six months on a B-2, 90 days on ESTA.
- Entry status for a U.S. passport
- Depends entirely on nationality: ESTA for 40+ countries, a visa for everyone else
- Official portal
- U.S. Department of State: visas
- Where to file
- At the consulate with jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence.
- Biometrics
- Fingerprints and a facial image are collected for most visa categories.
- Passport validity
- Generally six months beyond the intended stay, though many countries are exempt from that rule under a specific agreement.
- Fees
- Most non-immigrant visa applications are 185 dollars; petition-based categories are higher. ESTA carries a small fee. Immigrant visa and adjustment of status fees run into the thousands.
- Processing
- Immigrant visa categories range from months to many years depending on category and country of birth
- Document route
- Apostille
- Translation
- Foreign-language documents need a certified English translation with the translator certification of accuracy and competence.
Your document checklist
8 documents. 0 need authentication: 0 federal through the U.S. Department of State and 0 state-issued through a Secretary of State. Route: apostille.
- Passport No authentication needed Identity, nationality and the physical book the visa is placed in. How to get it. Renew early. Processing times published by the U.S. Department of State move with demand. Specification. Most countries require validity of at least six months beyond your intended departure. A significant minority require six months beyond entry, and some long-stay visas require twelve to fifteen months. Two blank visa pages is the common minimum; some countries require four. Lead time. Weeks; check current published processing times What goes wrong. Insufficient remaining validity is the single most common reason a traveller is refused boarding at a U.S. airport, before they ever reach the destination.
- Visa application form No authentication needed The core filing. Almost always country-specific. How to get it. Download or complete it on the official portal of the country you are applying to, or the outsourced visa application centre it uses. Never pay a third party for a form that is free. Specification. Usually signed within days of the appointment. Many systems generate a barcoded PDF that must be printed at full size and unmodified. Lead time. Same day What goes wrong. Consular jurisdiction is determined by your U.S. state of residence. Filing at the wrong consulate is an automatic rejection, not a transfer.
- Passport-format photographs No authentication needed Every application. How to get it. Check the destination specification before you sit for them. The U.S. passport photo standard is not universal. Specification. Schengen states generally require 35 x 45 mm with the face occupying 70 to 80 percent of the frame on a light grey or off-white background. The United States uses 2 x 2 inches on pure white. China requires 33 x 48 mm on white. India requires 2 x 2 inches on white. Taken within the last six months in almost all cases. Lead time. Same day What goes wrong. Glasses are prohibited in an increasing number of systems, including U.S. passport photos, and cause automatic rejection.
- Flight reservation and travel itinerary No authentication needed Evidence that you intend to leave, and that your stated dates are real. How to get it. A held reservation with a real booking reference. Many consulates accept a reservation rather than a paid ticket, precisely because buying a ticket before a visa decision is a bad idea. Specification. Must show entry and exit within the requested visa validity, with a verifiable PNR. Lead time. Same day What goes wrong. Do not buy a non-refundable ticket before the visa is approved.
- Proof of accommodation No authentication needed Where you will actually be, for the whole stay. How to get it. Hotel confirmations covering every night, a signed lease, a property deed, or an official invitation from a host. Specification. Must cover every date of the requested stay with no gaps. Gaps are a frequent refusal reason. Lead time. Days What goes wrong. Several countries require the host invitation to be on an official form obtained by the host from their local authority, not a letter the host writes.
- Proof of funds No authentication needed Evidence you can support yourself without working illegally or becoming a public charge. How to get it. Three to six months of bank statements, sometimes stamped or certified by the bank, plus pay slips or a benefit award letter. Specification. Most Schengen states apply a published per-day minimum. Long-stay categories set an annual or monthly figure, often indexed to a local benchmark. Lead time. 1 to 10 days What goes wrong. A large deposit shortly before filing looks like borrowed money and frequently triggers a refusal. Season the balance for several months.
- Travel or health insurance No authentication needed Mandatory for the Schengen area and for a growing number of long-stay categories. How to get it. Buy a policy that names the destination, states the coverage limit and includes repatriation of remains. Specification. Schengen requires a minimum of 30,000 euros of medical cover valid throughout the zone for the whole stay. Long-stay categories often require full local-standard cover with no deductible and no waiting period. Lead time. 1 to 3 days What goes wrong. A credit card travel benefit almost never satisfies the Schengen requirement because it does not name the traveller and the zone.
- Employment letter or contract No authentication needed Business, work and digital nomad visas, and as evidence of ties for a tourist visa. How to get it. On company letterhead, signed by an officer, stating your role, salary, start date, approved leave and that your job continues. Specification. Usually dated within 30 days of filing. Work visas normally need the contract itself, sometimes notarised and apostilled. Lead time. Days What goes wrong. Digital nomad visas commonly require proof the employer has traded for at least a year and that you have worked there for at least three to six months.
- 1 Confirm whether you actually need one Check the U.S. Department of State country page and the destination government site. Requirements change, and a blog post from two years ago is not evidence.
- 2 Identify the right consulate and book the appointment Jurisdiction follows your U.S. state of residence. Appointment availability, not the decision, is usually what determines your timeline, so book before you have the documents.
- 3 Complete the official form Only from the official portal or the contracted visa application centre. Draft your answers offline first; portals time out and discard work.
- 4 Assemble the supporting file Itinerary, accommodation covering every night, financials, insurance, employment letter. Order it the way the consulate checklist orders it; the person checking it in has thirty seconds per file.
- 5 Attend, submit and give biometrics Ten fingerprints and a facial image in most systems. Schengen reuses biometrics for 59 months, so a repeat applicant inside that window may be able to submit without attending.
- 6 Wait for the decision Schengen is 15 calendar days as standard, extendable to 45. Others range from three days to several weeks. Do not buy non-refundable travel before you have the decision.
- 7 Check the visa before you travel Verify the validity dates, the number of entries and the permitted duration of stay. Consular data-entry errors happen and they are your problem at the border, not theirs.
Your action Documents and authentication Government processing
- 1 Obtain a certified original From the issuing authority. Photocopies, scans and souvenir certificates cannot be authenticated.
- 2 Notarise, if it is a private document Letters, affidavits, powers of attorney and diploma copies need a notary acknowledgement first. Government-issued vital records do not.
- 3 County clerk, in some states A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
- 4 Authenticate at the right level State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the ISSUING state. Federal documents, including the FBI Identity History Summary, go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
- 5 Apostille or embassy legalisation Hague Convention destination: the apostille ends the chain. Non-member destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate. For United States (inbound) the apostille ends the chain.
- 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille or legalisation certificate. Doing this first means paying twice. Foreign-language documents need a certified English translation with the translator certification of accuracy and competence.
- 7 File with the right consulate Jurisdiction is by your U.S. state of residence. Bring originals plus a full copy set.
The two expensive mistakes. Sending a federal document such as an FBI Identity History Summary to a Secretary of State, which cannot authenticate it. And translating before authentication, so the apostille certificate is not inside the translation and the whole set has to be paid for twice.
How a tourist and visitor visa works, anywhere
The most common visa in the world and the one most Americans never need, because a U.S. passport carries visa-free tourist access to well over a hundred countries. Where it is required, it is a short-stay permission to visit, typically 30 to 90 days, granted on the strength of two things: that you can pay for the trip, and that you will leave at the end of it. Almost every refusal traces back to one of those two propositions being unconvincing on paper.
The core requirements
- A passport that outlives the trip
- Most destinations require six months of validity beyond your departure date, and two blank visa pages. This is checked by the airline at check-in, before you ever reach an immigration officer.
- Proof you can pay for the visit
- Three to six months of bank statements. Many Schengen states publish a per-day minimum. The balance should look like your normal financial life, not like money that arrived last week.
- A complete itinerary with no gaps
- Flights in and out within the requested dates, and accommodation covering every single night. A three-night hole in the hotel bookings is a routine refusal.
- Travel medical insurance
- Mandatory for the Schengen area at a minimum of 30,000 euros valid across the whole zone including repatriation, and increasingly common elsewhere.
- Evidence you will go home
- This is the requirement nobody writes down clearly and everybody is judged on. Employment, a business, property, a mortgage, dependent family and a return ticket all speak to it.
Where it goes wrong
- Buying non-refundable flights before approval. Consulates accept held reservations precisely so you do not have to.
- Gaps in accommodation. Every night must be covered.
- A sudden large deposit before filing, which reads as borrowed money.
- Insurance that does not name the destination or meet the stated minimum, especially for the Schengen area.
- Applying at the wrong consulate for your state of residence.
- Assuming a multiple-entry Schengen visa suspends the 90/180 rule. It does not.
- Not disclosing a previous refusal. The omission is treated far more seriously than the refusal.
Tourist and Visitor Visa for United States (inbound): common questions
Do I need a visa for United States (inbound) as a U.S. citizen?
This page is for people coming to the United States rather than leaving it. Nationals of the roughly forty-odd Visa Waiver Program countries can travel for tourism or business for up to 90 days with an approved ESTA obtained before boarding. Everyone else needs a visa, applied for on form DS-160 with an in-person interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate. There is no airside transit in the United States: every traveller connecting through a U.S. airport clears U.S. immigration and needs either ESTA or a C-1 transit visa, even for a one-hour connection.
Which of my documents need an apostille for United States (inbound)?
This route is unusually light on authenticated documents. United States (inbound) is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille is the whole chain. The routing rule that catches people: your FBI Identity History Summary is a federal record and must be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State, while birth and marriage certificates go to the Secretary of State of the state that issued them.
Do my documents need to be translated for United States (inbound)?
Foreign-language documents need a certified English translation with the translator certification of accuracy and competence. Translate after authentication, never before: the apostille or legalisation certificate is itself part of what the receiving authority reads, so it has to be inside the translation. Doing it the other way round means paying for the same translation twice.
How long does a tourist and visitor visa for United States (inbound) take?
Immigrant visa categories range from months to many years depending on category and country of birth On top of the decision itself, budget for the parts people forget: appointment availability, document lead times, and authentication. Apply four to eight weeks before travel, and earlier for summer and holiday peaks. Most systems accept applications from six months ahead and refuse them inside 15 days of departure.
What does it cost?
The published short-stay fee for United States (inbound) is $185. Most non-immigrant visa applications are 185 dollars; petition-based categories are higher. ESTA carries a small fee. Immigrant visa and adjustment of status fees run into the thousands. Schengen short-stay is 90 euros for adults since 11 June 2026, and 45 euros for children aged 6 to 11. Elsewhere the range runs from about 20 to 160 dollars. Add a visa application centre service fee of roughly 20 to 60 dollars where one is used. Fees are not refunded on refusal.
Where do I actually apply?
At the consulate with jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence. The official portal is U.S. Department of State: visas, run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of State. Use it directly rather than a third-party site: the forms are free, and paid intermediaries frequently charge several times the government fee for the identical product.
Is there anything specific to United States (inbound) I should know?
B-2 visitor for pleasure, or ESTA for Visa Waiver Program nationals. Up to six months on a B-2, 90 days on ESTA. The United States system splits sharply between non-immigrant visas, which require you to demonstrate you will leave, and immigrant visas, which do not. That single distinction explains most refusals: under section 214(b) every non-immigrant applicant is presumed to be an intending immigrant until they prove otherwise, and the burden is on the applicant. Documents from abroad used in U.S. immigration processes are apostilled in the issuing country, since the United States is a Convention party. The reverse direction, U.S. documents used abroad, is what most of this site is about.
Official sources for United States (inbound)
- U.S. Department of State: visas Every visa category and the DS-160 form.
- ESTA (official) The only legitimate ESTA site. Many commercial sites charge multiples of the government fee.
- USCIS Petitions, adjustment of status, naturalisation.
- Visa appointment wait times Published interview wait times by consulate.
Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: travel.state.gov, www.uscis.gov
Email this checklist to yourself
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This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal or immigration advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Visa rules, fees, processing times and entry requirements change frequently and often without notice, and individual circumstances change the answer. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your place of residence before you book travel or file an application. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
