 The US Embassy in India recently dropped three major changes in the US visa process and let's be real these are not easy to understand but we have done our research, decoded this and in this video we are going to explain what exactly these updates mean and what are the next steps that you need to take especially if you are a student going for the spring 24 intake keep on watching. Hi guys my name is Shachi and I am a travel and visa coach on this channel you will find lots of useful videos on the US visa process we have made a dedicated playlist to help you navigate the US visa process so make sure to check it out. So let's start with the biggest update and this update is about the DS160 form and I think this is the one which has created maximum amount of confusion. So the DS160 form is the only document that you are required to submit in the US visa process in fact when you go for the interview the visa officer are going to look at your DS160 form and ask you questions from that now the official update about the DS160 form from the US Embassy reads something like this it says that if your appointment has been booked on or after November 15th 2023 you need to ensure that your DS160 form is filled correctly and it is submitted no changes will be made in the biometric and if there are any errors you will not be able to attend the US visa process. Now let's understand why this update was done well the reality is that there are many many people who come for biometric with a DS160 form which is too old sometimes a year old sometimes even two years old or with incompletely filled forms and this puts additional burden on the biometric staff to help you fill a new form and to submit it and this in turn was increasing the time taken to process a US visa and increasing the wait time. Now here's where things get interesting this update from the US Embassy says that you will not be allowed to fill a new form or make changes to the form when you are at the biometric but it does not say that if you have filled a new form and if you have a new confirmation page the confirmation number will not be updated in the biometric. So to keep it simple essentially let's say that you have a DS160 form and you realize that there are errors in it and there are mistakes in it you can go ahead fill a new form accurately make sure that all the details are correct submit it and then take the new confirmation page with you for the biometric and when you go there you can ask them to update just the new number the new confirmation number in their system. This is still being done we have clients who are going for the biometric every single day and they are able to get their new DS160 numbers updated. So all of this puts focus on the fact how important is the DS160 form so you really really need to make sure that it's filled well it's reviewed before you hit that submit button. If you need our help in filling the form you can reach out to us we have a DS160 toolkit this is a video guide which takes you through all the questions in the DS160 form and I'm going to help you fill it accurately and easily and you can fill the entire form using this toolkit in about 45 minutes to an hour. So this is really simple easy to use you will find the link for the toolkit right below in the description box so do check it out. Apart from the DS160 toolkit we also have services which can help you fill the DS160 form and we can fill it for you so do check out all of those links right below. The next update is about the passport number which is used in the US visa appointment portal and this is mainly for the students f, n and j now the official announcement says that from November 27 2023 f, m and j student applicants must use their own passport information when scheduling the appointment otherwise the appointment is going to be cancelled and the MRB fee will be forfeited. Now ever since Covid there has been a dearth of slots and with this dearth of slots there has been a rise in fake accounts, dummy profiles, bulk bookings all of this was getting out of hand. Took up this the new system has been introduced which basically ties one person to one account through their passport number because a passport number is unique to everyone so as a student if you're scheduling appointment you need to ensure that your name, your passport number and your email id is there in the visa appointment page. I know that a lot of you do seek help to schedule appointments if you're doing that just make sure that the person who you are seeking help from is genuine is verified and you have some information called their track record. Apart from this the US visa portal also has a lot of technical issues the new portal has glitches which doesn't allow you to proceed ahead, doesn't allow you to make payments. If you are a student or apply for any other category and you're facing any of these technical glitches do reach out to us we can help you resolve it. You can check the link for this right below in the description box. The next update is about the opening of slots for spring 24 every. Now here are two categories of students one are the freshers and the second the first. So for freshers the embassy has repeatedly put out communication saying that they are going to be releasing more slots so if this is your first attempt I wouldn't say this too much to worry make sure that your account is ready, you pay the visa fee and you're tracking the system regularly. We can expect the freshers slots to be released somewhere between 10 to 15th of December which means that in the next week or so you should have more clarity on when you can expect your US visa appointment and we're going to be tracking all of this and bringing you right here. So do subscribe and stay tuned. The second category are the refuse students and here's where there's a lot of confusion and rumors. There are multiple theories that say that slots are not going to be released this year, there is a 360 day ban, they're also required to defer to the next week. Well I'm here to tell you that officially there is no such announcement made by the embassy about refuse slots and every intake they release slots for refuse students towards the end of that intake. So as of now we can hope that you do expect slots to come into the system and you need to make sure that you stay prepared because with a visa refusal you need to ensure that you are correcting and fixing all the mistakes and errors which happened last time and are fully ready for the next attempt. Speaking of preparation there are different ways in which we can prepare with me. Our flagship program is the 7 day course. This I would say is by far the most thorough, stress-free way to prepare for your visa interview. We take care of everything right from understanding you, your profile, filling your DS160 form, framing your answers and putting you through multiple walks. So if you have a previous refusal, complicated profile or you simply want to make sure that you get the visa done in the first attempt, do check out the 7 day program. Also I want to let you know about an exclusive package called Unlimited. So if you want more information about Unlimited, comment below type Unlimited and I'm going to reach out to you personally and give you the details for that. So these were the major updates in the US visa system and I hope that this video has given you clarity on this. If you have any more questions feel free to leave them in the comment section below. You can also DM me on Instagram, my Instagram handle is at shachi.mall. Once you're done watching the video I highly recommend that you check out these two videos which are going to give you more information about the DS160 form and how to proceed with the US visa process. Also do check out all the free resources which are right below in the description box. Signing off for now I'll see you in the next one. Bye.