DS-160 travel plans: what to enter without a ticket

The question, and the two paths it opens

The travel section of the DS-160 turns on one question: “Have you made specific travel plans?” Your answer decides which fields appear. The labels below are as published in detailed DS-160 walkthroughs; the live form on the State Department’s site is the authority, and we could not open it for this review.

Why “No” is the usual answer from India

Specific travel plans are plans you have already made: tickets bought, dates fixed. Before an interview you have good reason not to have made them. The State Department’s visitor page tells applicants not to make final travel plans or buy tickets until they have a visa, and interview waits at the posts in India were reported in September 2026 at between about six and a half and twelve months.

Answering “No” is not a weak answer. It tells the officer you are planning a visit and have not yet committed money to the journey. The intended arrival date and length of stay still give a clear outline of the trip.

Choosing an intended arrival date

The date has to make sense against the calendar of your own application. If the interview at your post is likely to be eight months away, an arrival next month is impossible, and an officer reading it will wonder what else on the form is unrealistic.

Pick a date that leaves room after the interview for the visa to be issued, and that fits the reason for the trip. Give a length of stay that matches your leave, your business commitments or your role at home.

If you answer “Yes”

Choose “Yes” only if your dates really are fixed. You then give arrival and departure dates and cities, the places you plan to visit and, if known, the flight numbers. Those two words matter: the form does not expect flight numbers from someone who has not booked.

A held reservation can supply the flight details without a fare at risk. Remember what it is: the airline releases an unpaid hold quickly, so by the time of your interview the booking will have lapsed. That is expected. The interview turns on your plan and your ties, not on whether a seat is still being held months later.

The address where you will stay

The form asks for the “Address Where You Will Stay”. If you are visiting family, give their full home address. If you are touring, give the hotel where you will spend your first nights, or the one in the city where you will stay longest. Whatever you enter should be a place you could name and describe at the interview.

You do not need a hotel reservation document for this. No part of the B1/B2 process calls for one; the form wants an address, and the hotel you intend to use is a truthful answer.

Who is paying for your trip

The form asks for the “Person/Entity Paying for Your Trip”, with SELF, OTHER PERSON, PRESENT EMPLOYER, EMPLOYER IN THE U.S. and OTHER COMPANY/ORGANIZATION as the reported options. Give the true answer, and carry evidence that fits it.

• Self: your own bank statements and income documents.
• Other person: their relationship to you and their means; for a son or daughter in the US, their status and address too.
• Present employer: a letter confirming the business trip and which costs the company covers.
• Employer in the US or another organisation: their invitation, setting out what they will pay for.

Keeping the form and the interview consistent

• Keep a copy of your submitted DS-160 and read it again the week before your interview.
• If your dates change before the interview, be ready to explain the new plan in a sentence.
• Use names exactly as printed in your passport, on the form and on any reservation.
• Never enter flight numbers from a booking that does not exist. An invented itinerary can be treated as misrepresentation, which is far more serious than having no plans at all.

Questions people ask