<p>Dear friends of CC,</p>
<p>I hope you could help me with filling the DS-156,157, and 158 forms.</p>
<p>My first question..
There is a place that they ask how long I intend to stay in United States.
Should I write 4 years (the entire duration) .. or 9 months (academic year)</p>
<p>there really a lot of strange questions.. Which countries have you entered in last 10 years.. well for me it's a lot.. but really can't remember which years</p>
<p>Fill in four years as your duration of stay. Your visa will probably be valid for two years but intels are usually allowed to stay for four provided that you don't need renewal within those four years.</p>
<p>u shud fil in there 4 yrs if doing online or write duration of study if doing in ppr..</p>
<p>the visa wud be valid for not 2 but 5 yrs normally and nowadays they are giving 4 yr ones too..</p>
<p>which countries question , well u r expected to provide the mas available data u can furnish... that question is meant to be for simple recordd and is not a technical field.. yet try and be as precise as u can</p>
<p>SM</p>
<p>btw thse are answer straight frm the US embassy in India i got last month for my friend who applied</p>
<p>SM</p>
<p>thnx for response smartmind !</p>
<p>well i entered the us embassy a couple of weeks ago and be sure they won't focus on such subtle things, it's just a 5 to 10 minute interview and they don't have time to question you about every thing you have written... nevertheless i would advice you to write "duration of study" like switch said, because it was exactly what i written and they didn't say anything about that. but be carefull and make the sevis payment and your I-20 together with certificates that show you can afford the whole duration of studies (scholarship, loan, and family income) this is all what they need. Then they just ask some meaningless questions like: how old are you (like they dont know it from the passport they have in front of them) where do your parents work and so on...</p>
<p>but one advice during the interview: don't talk a lot, answer with just a yes or a no, and if you see it necessary give a breif explanation, but just keep this in mind: dont talk a lot and give breif answers, they dont like talkative peope :-)</p>
<p>i hope my adivce will help you, btw where have you planned to go</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the advice, Olsi,Smartmind and Switch.
I am going to Middlebury</p>