 If you're looking for a USA visa slot urgently, then applying from a nearby 3rd country is an option but should you take it? In this video, I'm going to cover the exact steps you need to apply for a USA visa from a nearby 3rd country, what are the things to take care of in your DS160 form and interview prep and most importantly, which are the visa categories who should completely avoid this route. Keep on watching. Hi guys, my name is Shachi and I'm a travel and visa coach. On this channel, you'll find lots of useful videos on the USA visa process. We have entire playlists for each and every visa category so make sure to check it out. Given that the wait time for USA visa slot in India is still quite significant and those slots have been opening up in 2023, it is still random and it is still sporadic. Applying for a USA visa from a nearby 3rd country is an option which is gaining quite a bit of popularity. From India, the nearest countries with the shortest wait times are Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, which means that you can apply for a USA visa from the US embassy in Singapore, in Kuala Lumpur and in Bangkok. So let's start this video by understanding what are the exact steps you need to apply for a USA visa from any of these 3rd countries. The first thing that we need to do is to understand about the CGI federal website. CGI federal website is where you book your USA visa appointment. So here is where you'll be paying the visa fees and booking your appointment. Now what we need to understand here is that the CGI federal website is unique to each country. That means each country will have its own website. So if you want to apply from a 3rd country, you need an account in the CGI federal website of that country. Which means that if you want to apply from Singapore, then you need a CGI federal account in the CGI federal website of Singapore. The account that you already have in India is not going to work. Now the catch here is that with one passport number, we can only have one CGI federal account. Which means that if you have already created an account in India, you cannot create another account in Singapore. So the way to do this is to transfer your account. So you need to transfer your CGI federal account from India to the country from where you're applying for. The way to do this is to log in to your CGI federal account and when you log in on the left, you'll see that there's a provide feedback option. So use that, contact the customer care and ask them to transfer your account to the country of your choice. Now once all of this is done, you will finally have an account in the CGI federal website of the country from where you're applying from and there you need to create a login and a password. And now you're all set to start the visa application process. Once your account is ready, you can start the next step and that is to fill the DS160 form. So if you look at the DS160 form site, you'll see that here also you need to select the country of your choice. So pick the location from where you want to give the USA visa interview and start filling up the form. And in embassies like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, you also need to upload the photo yourself for the DS160 form. So this is something which is not there in India because in India, the photo gets taken at the biometric but from these third countries, you need to upload the photo yourself. So make sure that before you start the DS160 form, you have the photo with the correct size and the specifications ready with you. So once your form is submitted, the next step is to pay the USA visa fees. Now though the account can be transferred from one country to another, the USA visa fees cannot be transferred. So even if you have paid the visa fees in India, that's not going to be valid anymore. You'll have to pay the fee again from the country where you're applying for. So if you're applying from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, you'll have to pay the USA visa fees again and once you do that, you'll be able to schedule your appointment. So these are the three basic steps. To summarize it, you need to have a CJF federal account from the country from where you're applying from. If you already have the account in India, transfer that account. You need to fill the DS160 form. Make sure that you upload the photo correctly and you need to pay the visa fees again and schedule your appointment. So I hope that now you have a clear picture of how to apply from the country of your choice. If you're still here, still watching this video, do give this video a thumbs up and comment below which embassy or which location are you looking for applying from. So whether it's Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok or Singapore, comment down below and let us know. Now that we've understood the steps to get a visa appointment, let's look at what are the pointers to take care of while filling the DS160 form and for the interview prep. The first point to remember is that all the old forms are visible to the visa officer. So no matter from which country you're applying from, the USA visa officer is able to see all the old DS160 form submitted and the old interview experiences as well. So make sure to maintain consistency when you're filling the form. Do not give contradictory or do not give any new information which did not exist earlier. And also you still need to indicate about all your previous refuses. So even if the previous refuses were from a different country, you will still need to indicate it in the form. And the second point and this is highly important is that you will not be able to edit the form once you have submitted it. Unlike in India where we are able to edit or fill a new form till we go to the biometric in countries like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, once the form is submitted, they do not allow you to edit or fill a new form. So be extra, extra careful when you fill your DS160 form. Make sure that you review it and proof check it. If you need our help in filling or reviewing your DS160 form, do reach out to us. The link for this is in the description box below. The third point to note is that you need to be really careful when you fill the work and education section of the DS160 form. This is one part of the form the visa officers really zoom in and focus on because it gives them an understanding of your background and profile. Remember that the visa officer is from a different country. So he might not have the same level of familiarity or the same level of understanding as a visa officer in India. So when you fill your work and education section, you need to be really, really clear. Don't leave anything to the imagination and don't make anything way. Also, we get a lot of questions on how to fill the monthly salary. Remember that the monthly salary is in the local currency. So fill it as per the currency from where you're applying from. So if you're applying from Singapore, the monthly salary should be in SGD. If you're applying from Thailand, the monthly salary should be in Thai Bath. And if you're applying from Malaysia, the monthly salary should be in Ringgit. And the next step to take care of is for your interview prep. Now, in addition to all the questions that you would prepare for the interview, it's really important to be prepared for the question, why are you applying from this country or rather why are you not applying from your home country? Now, depending upon the purpose with which you're applying, this answer could take different forms. If you're applying for a B2 or a tourism visa, then you could say that you have clubbed applying for the USA visa appointment along with a tourism trip to that country. So let's say that you plan one week trip to Singapore and along with tourism in Singapore, you also wanted to apply for the USA visa for your future travel needs. If you're applying for a B1, that is business visa, then you could clearly explain what was the requirement for you to be in US within the stipulated time period. Maybe you had to attend a conference which was already scheduled, that for that particular date, or maybe your company wanted you there in US for an important event or important meeting. And in such cases, make sure to carry a supporting letter from your employer or supporting letter from your office and you can supplement your answers and show this letter to the visa officer. And the third category is any emergency need. So if at all there is any family emergency or any urgent requirement of you being in US for a close family member, you could state this reason as well when the visa officer asks you. Now let's come to the important part of the video and that is who should use the third country route and who should avoid using it. Now technically everybody is eligible. There's nobody stopping you and everybody can apply for a USA visa from any country of their choice. But looking at the data from the past visa interview experiences and approvals, there are some visa categories who should avoid doing this. So let's start with that. So the first category of visas who should avoid applying is any visa category with a previous refusal. So if you have a previous refusal in the recent past, that means in the last one and a half to two years, then avoid applying from a country other than your home country because it might not give a very good impression to the visa officer. The visa officer might feel that because you do not get approved from your home country, you're not trying your luck in a new country. So any history of USA visa rejection in the last one and a half to two years, I would highly recommend that you wait it out and try and get an appointment from India itself. The second category of people who should avoid using the third country route as of now are students. So students who are looking to go for the fall intake or even for the summer intake should just wait it out and really follow a wait and watch approach as of now. Do not be in a hurry to give your visa interview and rush to a third country. Again, this is purely based on the data that we have seen from the previous interview experiences. Also, the USA Embassy in India might just release visa slots for the summer and the fall intake, maybe end of Feb or March. So for students, as of now, it is recommended to follow a wait and watch policy and do not be in a rush to book your appointment outside India. On the other hand, let's look at which are the visa categories for whom it is relatively safe to apply from a third country. So first is the B1, that is the business visas. So if you have worked with your company and you have a good track record of experience and you have the supporting letter from the company which clearly states the need for urgent business travel, then go ahead and apply for the B1 visa from a third country. Second is the work visas, so H&L visas, again with a proper supporting letter which states the need for urgent requirement and for your immediate presence in the US. Third is the B2 visa where people have immediate family members. So let's say that you have a parent who have a child in the US and you are not getting the appointment in India, then you can go ahead and apply for the USA visa from the third country with the purpose of meeting your daughter or son. And again here remember to carry the proper invite letter and supporting letter from your child in the US. And the last visa category are the dependent visa categories. So F2, L2 and H4, that is people who already have a spouse in the US and the family has been separated for a considerable amount of time, can also apply for a dependent visa category from a third party country. So this is all the information about applying for a USA visa from a third country and I really hope that you have clarity on this now. To conclude, I would say that use this option only if the travel need is urgent and the timelines in India are not working out for you because whatever we say when end of the day, when we apply from a country other than India there is still that level of uncertainty, there is still a lot of ifs and buts. So make sure that your preparation is thorough and you are clear on all the steps that you need to take. For a more in-depth prep, you can reach out to me, we can do one to one sessions, we can do mock interviews. We also have structured packages to take care of your entire USA visa journey. The link for all this is in the description box below. And there are a bunch of free downloads as well to help you in your interview prep. So do check all of it out. If you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comment section below. You can also DM me on Instagram. My Instagram handle is at shachi.mul. And as usual, we'll be coming up with a lot more useful videos. So stay tuned, stay subscribed. Signing off for now. I'll see you in the next one. Bye.