US DS-160 Keeps Timing Out Repeatedly

Captain_Ck

The DS-160 form is hands down one of the worst government web apps ever built.
Short timeouts. Random timeouts. No warning.

You spend 60 seconds checking a detail and boom the session is expired.
Reload, start again, type everything fast, and then another random timeout.
Rinse. Repeat. Pure nonsense.

My parents are trying to apply for a B-2 tourist visa, and the site literally won’t let them complete the form. It times out before they can even save progress. The UX is hostile, unreliable, and completely unfit for something this important.

This is not user error. It’s bad system design.

galaking

Captain_Ck I know this is a little late, but I found https://fillvisa.com/, a free tool that helps with the DS-160.

You can fill out the form over time without losing progress, and it gives you a clean, organized preview before you transfer everything into the official DS-160 site. It doesn’t fix the government website itself, but it saves you from retyping everything every time the session randomly times out.