Don't type personal details, such as a client's name.

Importing a DS-160 from CEAC

Read a DS-160 already on CEAC into a new form with its Application ID and security answer, or let a client import it on their client link.

A returning applicant’s last DS-160 is still on CEAC, the State Department’s site. Instead of typing it in again, you can read it back into DS160.io and start the new form from its answers. Nothing at CEAC is signed or submitted.

What you need

The details CEAC asks for to retrieve an application:

  • the location the DS-160 was filled in for (the embassy or consulate chosen when it was started);
  • its Application ID, ten letters and digits such as AA00XXXXXX;
  • the applicant’s surname and year of birth;
  • the answer to the security question set when the DS-160 was started.

CEAC keeps a DS-160 for a limited time, so one filed long ago may no longer be there.

CEAC makes a copy

For a DS-160 already submitted, CEAC shows its answers only by making a new, unsigned copy of it. The submitted DS-160 is not changed, and the copy lapses unless it is used. Whoever enters the details ticks that the applicant agrees to this before the import starts. A DS-160 never submitted needs no copy: it is read as it was last saved, including the sections not yet reviewed.

Importing into a new form

  1. On the New DS-160 form page, choose Import from CEAC.
  2. Enter the details, tick the agreement and choose Read from CEAC. The import opens on its own page.
  3. Wait while the DS-160 is read; it usually takes a few minutes. We solve CEAC’s security code for you, and only rarely ask you to type it.
  4. Once it is read, the page shows how many answers were read, how many CEAC did not copy and how many to check. Choose Create form.
  5. You are back on the New DS-160 form page, with the import chosen. Set the form’s details and choose Create form. The form name is filled in with the applicant’s name unless you have typed one, and the preferred consulate is the DS-160’s location. Creating the form uses a form credit, like any other.

Creating a form covers the form’s details and what can happen once it exists.

Following an import

The import’s page shows each step as it happens: opening CEAC, the security code, finding the DS-160, making CEAC’s copy (with the page it has reached), reading the answers and preparing them. You can leave and come back: the page’s address keeps the import.

  • If CEAC asks for a security code we cannot read, the page shows it for you to type, and whoever started the import is emailed a link to it. Type it within a few minutes, or the import ends.
  • Once a form has been made from the import, the page shows Open form instead of Create form: an import makes one form.
  • What an import read is kept for 90 days. After that its page shows it as Expired, and a form can no longer be made from it.

What comes across, and what to check

  • Answers read go onto the form as they were on CEAC.
  • Not copied: CEAC’s copy leaves some answers out, among them the security and background questions, the trip and the address in the U.S., and parts of the work and travel history. They are left blank for the applicant to answer.
  • To check: answers likely to be out of date for a new application. The passport (it may have been renewed), the earlier U.S. trips and the last visa, the present employer and the purpose of the trip, as well as a trip date already past or a passport that expires within six months.
  • Not asked: CEAC asks some questions only of some applicants, such as the ESTA question or the security questions about earlier stays in the U.S. Those it did not ask this applicant are answered No.

Go through every section before you file.

For a TN applicant, CEAC does not show a primary occupation, so answer Primary Occupation on the work page yourself. The employer’s details CEAC did show appear as soon as you pick an occupation that asks for an employer.

When the import ends without the DS-160

What the page saysWhat to do
CEAC has no DS-160 with this Application IDCheck the ID. A DS-160 filed long ago may no longer be kept.
The surname, year of birth or security answer does not matchCheck them and try again.
CEAC had archived this DS-160 and is restoring itTry again in about 15 minutes.
The security code was not entered in timeTry again, and type the code when asked.
CEAC’s pages could not be readWe are alerted and look into it.

On the import’s page, Start again opens the details empty: they are never kept, so type them again with the correction. On a client link, Try again keeps what the client typed.

A client often knows their own security answer when you don’t. Where the import is on, the client’s form shows Filed a DS-160 before? with an Import from CEAC link, which opens the import on its own page. The client enters the same details and agrees to the copy themselves. Once their DS-160 is read, they are warned that importing replaces every answer on the form, and choose Replace my answers to go ahead. Only the preparer section, which your workspace answers, is kept. If the client leaves or reloads the page, it picks up the import where it was, and once their answers are replaced it says so.

It is on for your clients unless you turn it off: Owners and Admins open Workspace Settings → Client intake, untick Clients can import their DS-160 from CEAC under CEAC import for clients, and choose Save.