General Information

Appointment Requirement

PLEASE NOTE:  Each applicant must have an appointment to be interviewed.

Non-Immigrant Visa Applicants must schedule appointments for their visa interviews, minimizing waiting time. Instructions on “How to Apply for a Visa in Malta” now contain an e-link to the NIV Appointment Calendar you can use this link to schedule an appointment for your visa interview.

Exceptions to the appointment requirements in cases of bonafide Emergency (such as family death or illness, emergency medical treatment or provision of support to a family member undergoing such treatment, U.S. Court summons) are made, on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the Chief Consular Officer.  To request an Emergency appointment Contact the U.S. Embassy by phone at 2561-4000 or e-mail the Consular Section.

Appointment Wait Time

Applicant interviews are conducted every Wednesday, applicants must make appointments using the Visa Interview Appointment Calendar.

Approved Visas generally take 3 working days to process, and are usually available for pick-up the Monday following you approval.  Applicants will be informed at thier interview whether their application has been approved or not.

Make sure to write down your application ID number.

When starting a new DS-160 application, applicants will be provided with an application ID, and will be required to select and answer a security question from a dropdown list.  Applicants will be able to retrieve or recover their partially completed DS-160 from the database by entering the application ID and providing three pieces of information:  1) the first five letters of their surname, 2) their year of birth, and 3) the answer to the security question they selected when the application was first created. 

The application ID is also the barcode and confirmation number displayed on the Confirmation page.

Applicants now have the ability to:

- retrieve partially completed applications.  You can now save a partially completed application and retrieve it by entering the application ID and providing identification information.

- recover from an application or session error:  Applicants who lose connections with their application can recover their partially completed applications by entering the application ID and providing identification information.

- retrieve a submitted application to print the confirmation page:  Applicants who have submitted their applications will be able to reprint their confirmation page by clicking on the "Retrieve Incomplete Application" button on the "getting started" page.  When the "Retrieve Incomplete Application" button is clicked, the applicant is asked to provide identification information.  One of the identifying pieces of information the applicant must provide is the answer to the security question that was selected when the application was first created.  If the DS-160 application was created in a previous version and no security question was ever selected, the system only prompts the applicant for two identifying pieces of information.  If answered correctly, the system displays the confirmation page.  On the confirmation page, the following functions will be accessible:  print confirmation; email confirmation; links to the copyright information, disclaimers, and Paperwork Reduction Act; and to any post, travel.state.gov, or Embassy link.

Visa Waiver Program (ESTA)

Eligable Maltese citizens may now travel to the United States without a visa.  Please consult our information on the Visa Waiver Program  before deciding whether or not you should apply for a visa.  The Embassy will not issue a refund to any person who pays the non-refundable visa application fee and later decides to travel to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program.  

Non-immigrant visas are for international travelers, (citizens of other countries), coming to the U.S. temporarily. This visa allows you to travel to a U.S. port-of-entry (airport, for example) and request permission of the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection Officers to enter the U.S.  A visa does not guarantee entry into the United States.

International travelers come to the U.S. for a wide variety of reasons, including tourism, business, medical treatment and certain types of temporary work. The type of visa needed is defined by immigration law, and relates to the purpose of your travel.

• Applying for a U.S. Visa in Malta
• Video on the visa interview process
• Categories of U.S. Visas