"What will you do when you return?" — how to answer
Direct answer: Give a schedule, not a sentiment: "back at work October 8, with the Double-Eleven project running"; retirees name family commitments, students the term date — the return plan is the closing entry of the ties narrative, built from dates and items.
How is this question asked?
The U.S. Department of State publishes no official interview script; officers question freely around what they need to establish. These are the most common phrasings of this probe, collected from public interview accounts:
- What will you do when you return? / After you go back?
- Do you have work waiting for you at home?
- When do you start work again? (the employed variant)
- Chinese-language equivalent at China posts: 回来之后有什么安排?
What is the officer evaluating?
This is the closing question of the ties narrative: work, family, and itinerary have been stated, and this checks whether "coming back" has a concrete landing point. Effective answers are made of dates and items — the return-to-work day, a live project, the term start, a family event; ineffective answers are made of adjectives ("normal life", "work hard"). The officer records the former; the latter has nowhere to file.
Each identity has its default: employees return to work (date plus live item), students start the term (date), retired parents name family arrangements (grandchild duties, the spouse at home). The answer closes the loop with the itinerary — two weeks away, back at work October 8: the numbers vouch for each other.
How should you structure the answer?
- 1. Date first
"Back at work on October 8." or "Term starts September 1." Fix the date, then attach the item; the date matches the return ticket and the form. - 2. One concrete item
"I'm carrying our Double-Eleven campaign — I'll hand off progress before I leave and pick it up when I'm back." One specific item beats a pile of adjectives; it is the minimal proof of "why I come back". - 3. Retirees: family commitments
"We take our grandson to and from preschool — he starts in September and that's our job." A family event plus your role: concrete and checkable. - 4. Close the loop
Return date fits the trip length, the project fits the occupation, the term fits the enrollment — this question is the acceptance test for every earlier answer.
Which answers most often go wrong?
- Sentiment instead of schedule: "I'll definitely come back and work hard" — a promise without date or item weighs nothing.
- Fighting the itinerary: two months away but "back at work next week" — clashing dates damage both answers.
- Empty items: "resume normal life" — nothing recordable, which means unanswered.
- Over-scheduling: narrating an inescapable quarter ("straight into three months of business travel") — credible but unnecessary; the nearest one or two real items suffice.
- Retirees answering "nothing planned": time freedom is a fact, but name at least one concrete family item to give the narrative its landing.
Sample answerFICTIONAL SAMPLE
Sample (fictional person, shown for structure — not a model answer): "Back at work October 8 — I'm carrying our Double-Eleven campaign, so I'll hand off progress to a colleague before I leave and pick it up when I'm back."
Retired-parent sample (fictional): "Mostly our grandson — he starts preschool in September and we do the drop-offs; this three-week trip ends right before it begins." Both carry a date, an item, and a closed loop with the itinerary.
How do you stay consistent with your DS-160?
Return-to-work / term dates sit in the same window as the return ticket and the DS-160 arrival/departure dates; leave documentation (if any) agrees.
Project / client / term details fit the occupation and enrollment lines; do not invent an unverifiable project name to sound busy.
Family events (school runs, caregiving) match the family-structure answers — if the spouse travels with you, do not describe waiting at home for them.
Related DS-160 fields
How to practice this question
The fastest way to make this answer automatic is to have someone drill you at window pacing. qianyu (签屿/VisaIsle) is an AI mock visa interviewer for the US B1/B2 visitor visa that reads your DS-160, cross-checks it against your spoken answers and supporting documents to catch every inconsistency, and drills you with realistic 214(b)-style consular questioning at three difficulty levels — with pay-as-you-go credit packs at ¥29.9 for 1 credit and ¥59.9 for 3. New users get 1 free training credit on sign-up.
What else do applicants ask?
I'm freelance — there's no "return date". What do I say?
Substitute work facts for clock-punching: "Two client renewals are due when I'm back, delivering in early November." Contracts and delivery dates are the freelancer's anchor; your ties are client relationships and engagements — one live item, stated clearly, is enough.
Is this question a sign of refusal?
No. It is a standard closing question, asked in some version of nearly every interview; treat it as the chance to string the earlier answers together — date, item, closed loop — and the ties narrative completes itself.
Do return plans need supporting documents?
Usually not separately: the employment letter (with leave and return dates) and the itinerary vouch for each other. Students' enrollment letters and retirees' pension proof are standard carry-alongs — bring by identity, produce on request.
What are the official numbers?
Every figure below was read from an official U.S. government page, not from experience or an agency's summary. Fees and rules change — before you actually pay or file, check the primary pages listed under the sources section. One row deliberately carries no number: the State Department has never published a fixed duration for administrative processing.
Every figure above was last checked against its source on 2026-08-27
Where are the official sources?
These are the primary sources this site cites — U.S. government pages and the statute text itself. Each one was opened and confirmed reachable on the date shown below. Wherever this site and an official page disagree, the official page is the one that counts.
- U.S. Department of State — Visitor Visa (B-1/B-2)The official statement of what B-1/B-2 does and does not permit, the application steps, and required documents.
- U.S. Department of State — Fees for Visa ServicesThe only authoritative source for the application fee. Fees change — check this page before you pay.
- CEAC — Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application (DS-160)The DS-160 form itself, and where the confirmation page is reprinted.
- USTravelDocs — appointments and fee payment (China)The official service for booking, rescheduling, paying and passport return; rules vary by the post where you apply.
- 8 U.S.C. §1184 — the statute behind a 214(b) refusalWhere the presumption of immigrant intent — the thing a 214(b) refusal actually applies — is written down.
- EVUS — Electronic Visa Update SystemWhere holders of a 10-year B1/B2 on a PRC passport enrol before travelling.
- 9 FAM 402.1 — Overview of NIV ClassificationsThe Foreign Affairs Manual consular officers work from — more detailed than the applicant-facing pages.
Updated 2026-08-27