Guide to Free EVUS Enrollment for U.S. Visa Holders

Since November 29, 2016, all travelers holding a Chinese passport and a 10-year multiple-entry B1/B2 visa must register in the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS); otherwise, they cannot enter the United States.

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The official EVUS website is evus.gov, and registration is completely free. Some third-party websites charge $39 to "help" submit an EVUS application; the author of this article believes this practice exploits information asymmetry, takes advantage of and misleads uninformed Chinese travelers, is unethical, and carries risks such as information leakage and registration delays. See {https://gonglue.us/4444}.

evus.gov supports Simplified Chinese. After opening the website, the first step is to click the top right corner and select China (Chinese).

New Enrollment Application

Select "New Enrollment Application" and then "Individual Enrollment."

Read the Disclaimer

Although most people dislike reading disclaimers, you must click "Agree" to proceed to the next step.

Enter Travel Document Information

The so-called "travel document" refers to your passport and visa. Unless otherwise specified (such as the Chinese name in the next step), all fields must be filled out in English. The example below uses Zhang San for demonstration. Most fields are straightforward; simply fill them in one by one as prompted (which is why the author of this article believes those so-called third-party services are a rip-off). If anything is unclear, please leave a comment below the article.

The passport issue date and expiration date should both be entered in the format of date/month/year.

Enter Personal Information

On this page, the fields "Chinese surname," "Chinese given name," "Home Address (please fill in Chinese)," and "Parents' Full Names (please fill in Chinese)" must be completed in Chinese; all other fields must be completed in English.

Enter Travel Information

For most B1/B2 travelers visiting the United States for tourism, the question "Are you traveling to the United States to transit to another country?" should be answered "No."

Eligibility Questions

Select "No" for all questions. If any situation applies that would require answering "Yes," you may encounter problems upon entry.

Review Information (1)

Each section filled out earlier needs to be reviewed one by one.

Review Information (2)

After reviewing each item, click "Confirm and Continue," and the item will be marked as "Reviewed." Once all items are reviewed, check the two confirmation boxes at the bottom left and click Next.

Submit Application

Now you can submit! After submission, the status will show as "并未提交" (Not Submitted), which is a translation issue; the original English is "pending," which actually means "awaiting confirmation."

Check Enrollment Status

After submitting the application, it generally takes effect within a few minutes. During National Day, a friend came to visit and only realized at the airport that EVUS registration had not been done; the friend filled it out and submitted it on the phone on the spot, waited a few minutes to confirm everything was fine, and then boarded. If those third-party websites that impersonate the official EVUS site had been used, the flight might have been missed!

Checking enrollment status is also simple: return to the evus.gov homepage, click "Check Existing Enrollment," and then select "Check Individual Status."

Enter Personal Information

If you know or still remember the registration application number, you only need to enter that registration application number, your passport number, visa number, and date of birth. If you do not remember it, that is not a problem either: enter your passport number, visa number, date of birth, name, and country to perform a query.

Check Results

In this example, about two minutes after submitting the application, the status already showed as "Enrolled."

Frequently Asked Questions

See the FAQ and answers on the CBP official website; much of it is official boilerplate, so this article excerpts some of it and provides summarized answers.

• Q: What should I do if I need help during the EVUS enrollment process? A: You can ask someone else to help fill it out, or contact the EVUS Customer Service Center by calling 00-1-202-325-0180 or emailing [email protected]. The EVUS Customer Service Center is located in Washington, DC, and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on U.S. federal holidays, with Mandarin-language service available. Do not contact the U.S. embassy or consulates; they do not handle EVUS.

• Q: How long after submitting an EVUS enrollment can approval be obtained? A: From a few minutes to 72 hours. Do not wait until the last moment to register; do it at least two or three days in advance.

• Q: What should I do if I receive an EVUS enrollment failure message? A: Contact EVUS customer service (same as item 1).

• Q: If I receive an EVUS enrollment failure message, do I need to re-enroll in EVUS? A: Contact EVUS customer service (same as item 1).

• Q: What if I made a mistake while filling out the EVUS enrollment? Can it be corrected? A: You can submit again, which is equivalent to re-enrolling.

• Q: How does the airline know whether I have enrolled in EVUS? Will they issue a boarding pass if I have not enrolled? A: Airlines can access EVUS enrollment information through an internal network. No.

• Q: What is the cost of contacting the customer service center? A: It is free. However, your mobile carrier may charge normal call fees.

• Q: How often do travelers need to update their EVUS information? A: Generally every two years. If the visa or passport expires, the EVUS will also expire, and re-enrollment is required.

• Q: I have a question but cannot find the answer here; whom can I contact? A: Contact the EVUS Customer Service Center (same as item 1).

• Q: If both my official passport and private passport contain a 10-year B1/B2, B1, or B2 visa, do I need to enroll in EVUS twice? A: Yes. Each EVUS enrollment corresponds to a separate visa. Each 10-year visa must be enrolled separately.

• Q: When filling out the EVUS form, I need to provide a U.S. contact, but I do not plan to travel to the United States soon and/or I have no U.S. contact. What should I do? A: You can enter the hotel name or the tour group's U.S. contact. If none, enter "unknown."

• Q: If I am about to travel to Guam, do I need to enroll in EVUS? A: Yes.

• Q: I have a new passport and need to enroll in EVUS, but my valid U.S. visa is in the expired passport. Can I enroll in EVUS? Do I need to obtain a new visa? A: You can enroll using the U.S. visa plus the new passport information.

• Q: After clicking "Submit," I received an "Unsuccessful Enrollment" message. Should I immediately try to re-enroll? A: After receiving an "Unsuccessful Enrollment" message, do not attempt to re-enroll within 24 hours. You may contact EVUS customer service.

• Q: I successfully enrolled in EVUS, but the validity period is not two years. Is this an error? A: No. The United States requires that a traveler's passport be valid for at least six months upon entry. The EVUS validity period will end at most six months before your passport expires.

• Q: The system shows that I am already enrolled. Will I receive an email or text message confirmation? A: No. You can confirm by going to the www.evus.gov homepage and using "Check Existing Enrollment," where a demonstration is available.