22 CFR §42.73

1. (a)Evidence of visa. An immigrant visa shall be evidenced by a physical visa or by an electronic visa located in the Department's records. The appropriate symbol as prescribed in § 42.11, showing the classification of the alien, shall be entered on the visa.
2. (b)Visa format. A machine-readable visa shall be in the format designated by the Department, and contain, at a minimum, the following data:
   1. (1)Full name of the immigrant;
   2. (2)Visa symbol;
   3. (3)Location of the visa issuing office;
   4. (4)Passport number;
   5. (5)The registration number (A-number) assigned to the immigrant;
   6. (6)Sex;
   7. (7)Date of birth;
   8. (8)Nationality;
   9. (9)Date of issuance;
   10. (10)Date of expiration;
   11. (11)Visa control number;
   12. (12)Any annotations entered to reflect waivers or other information useful to an immigration officer at a port of entry (POE) upon the immigrant's application for admission to the United States;
   13. (13)A digitized photo of the immigrant; and
   14. (14)Machine-readable data that can be processed by an immigration officer at a POE.
3. (c)Disposition of supporting documents. Post shall, wherever possible, return original supporting documents furnished by the alien. Duplicate copies may be retained in the consular system, as required or necessary.