US B1/B2 Tourist Visa from Nepal: What You Actually Control in the Process

Applying for a US B1/B2 tourist visa from Nepal can feel like preparing for an exam where the syllabus is public but the marking scheme is not. The forms, fees and appointment steps are published. What happens behind the consular window in Kathmandu is not. The B1/B2 category covers business travel (B1) as well as tourism, family visits or medical treatment (B2), and the only part of the process you can genuinely shape is how you present your case: the purpose you declare, the ties you evidence, the funding story you tell, and how you behave at the window.

The form you fill and the portal you use

The DS-160 lives on the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC). You complete it online, submit it, and print the confirmation page with the barcode. That confirmation is your entry ticket to the appointment system. The form asks about travel history, work, family, and where you will stay in the United States. Consistency matters. If your DS-160 says you are visiting a cousin in Dallas but at the interview you drift toward a business conference in Chicago, the officer notices. The form is a record of what you intend to do, not a place for aspiration. Read the whole thing before you start typing, because the questions do not change from one applicant to the next and going back to fix an early answer is more painful than it looks.

Booking the appointment in Kathmandu

The US Embassy in Kathmandu handles non-immigrant visas, including the B1/B2. Appointments are scheduled through the embassy's visa appointment service after you pay the MRV fee. The fee amount changes, so check the embassy site or travel.state.gov on the day you pay instead of trusting a number you saw in a Facebook group. Pay through the channel the appointment service specifies and keep the receipt. You pick a date and print the appointment letter. Rescheduling is possible but limited; miss the window and you start over. The embassy publishes its address and contact channel on its own website, so use that and not a third-party aggregator.

What ties to Nepal actually means for a B1/B2 applicant

Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act presumes every applicant is an intending immigrant. The text is at uscode.house.gov (8 U.S.C. 1184(b)), and the State Department's own wording sits on travel.state.gov. The burden is on you to overcome that presumption. Officers look for evidence that your life in Nepal continues after the trip: a job you go back to, a business you run, property you own, family who depend on you, studies you are enrolled in. Applicants often say a plain employer letter with leave dates and a return date did more for them than a folder of property papers, though nobody publishes how officers weigh any of it. Bank statements show capacity. They do not prove you will come back. The mix matters more than any single document.

Funding and purpose should tell one story, not two

Who pays and why you go have to line up. If your sponsor is a relative in the US, expect the officer to ask why they are funding a tourist trip instead of filing a family petition. If you are self-funded, your savings should look consistent with the income you declared. A sudden large deposit two weeks before the interview invites questions. The purpose has to be specific: tourism, medical treatment, visiting family, a conference. "Visiting the US" is not a purpose. A two-week itinerary with hotel bookings, a conference registration, or an appointment letter from a hospital shows you have planned the trip you described.

The interview: short, focused, and yours

Interview slots in Kathmandu are usually brief. Applicants routinely describe a few minutes at the window rather than a conversation. The officer has your DS-160 on screen and asks some version of: Why this trip? Why now? Who pays? What do you do in Nepal? When do you return? Answer directly. Do not volunteer what nobody asked for, and do not recite a script. If you do not understand a question, say so. Credibility is what is being assessed, not memory. Bring your passport and your DS-160 confirmation, plus the appointment letter if you printed one. A printed photo is only needed when the photo upload failed during DS-160 submission; if the upload went through, you do not need one. Everything else (employment letter, bank statements, property papers, itinerary) is supporting evidence you offer if asked. Many applicants carry a folder anyway, but the embassy does not publish a mandatory checklist.

After a 214(b) refusal

A 214(b) refusal is not a permanent ban. It means the officer was not convinced you would return. The refusal sheet cites the section. You can reapply, and there is no appeal and no cap on how many times you try. The DS-160 asks whether you have been refused before, so answer truthfully. Before you reapply, ask yourself what actually changed: a new job, a finished degree, a marriage, a child. Material changes in your circumstances in Nepal are what move the calculation. Reapplying with an identical profile and hoping for a softer officer usually does not. Read the refusal sheet carefully rather than relying on what a friend told you it means. Some applicants also ask about the visa bond pilot programme floated for certain nationalities in recent years; if it applies to your case, the embassy or travel.state.gov will say so. Do not take an agent's word for it.

What to avoid

Anyone who guarantees approval, asks for original documents or blank signed forms, sells interview coaching tied to a guarantee, pushes you to misstate your purpose or finances, or offers to "arrange" ties evidence is not helping you. The process is yours to complete, and the embassy does not endorse agents. The official channels are narrow: the US Embassy Kathmandu website, travel.state.gov, the CEAC portal where the DS-160 is filed, and the embassy's own appointment service. The statute, 8 U.S.C. 1184(b), is there if you want to read the presumption in its original wording.

Checked in October 2026 against the US Embassy Kathmandu non-immigrant visa page, travel.state.gov visa pages, and 8 U.S.C. 1184(b) at uscode.house.gov. No approval rates, refusal rates or wait-time figures are cited here; those belong on the embassy's own pages. The visa bond pilot programme is the item most likely to change.