Preparer of Application Defaults

The DS-160 asks, on its final page, whether anyone assisted the applicant in filling out the application — and if so, who. For an agency the answer is the same on every form: you did. Preparer defaults let you write those details once, on the workspace, rather than re-entering them per client.

Prerequisites. This is for Owners and Admins of a Business workspace.

Set your details

Open Workspace Settings → Client intake and find Preparer of Application Defaults.

Tick Prefill new forms with these details, then fill in whichever fields apply:

• Preparer’s surnames and given names — the person who prepared the application.
• Organization name — your agency.
• Address — street, city, state/province, postal code, and country.
• Relationship to applicant — free text, for example IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT.

Every field is optional. Anything you leave blank is submitted to the DS-160 as Does Not Apply, which is what the form itself expects for a blank preparer name, organization, state, or postal code.

Field lengths match the limits the DS-160 enforces, so a value saved here can never be cut short when it is entered.

What changes once it is on

While prefill is on, your settings are the preparer section. Three things follow from that.

The section disappears. It is no longer listed in the form overview or in your client’s intake checklist, it does not count towards a form’s completion percentage, and it is not part of the “section X of Y” count when moving between sections. Neither you nor your client is asked a question that is already answered.

Your answers are read live. They are not copied onto each form when it is created. Editing them here changes what every future submission carries, including forms that already exist. There is nothing per-form to fall out of step.

Nothing is left to fill in. When a form is submitted, the agent enters your preparer details on the DS-160’s final page automatically.

Turning it off

Untick Prefill new forms with these details and save. Your details stay saved, so you can switch it back on later without retyping them.

Once off, the preparer section reappears everywhere it was hidden, and applicants answer the question themselves. Forms submitted while prefill was on are unaffected — they were already submitted with your details.

A note on signing

Filling in the preparer section is not the same as signing. The DS-160 still requires the applicant’s electronic signature, and that is gated behind a security code on the final page which a person has to enter. You will be emailed when a form reaches that point.