[gtirloni]

Unfortunately buying a ticket and booking a hotel is necessary in most cases. At the embassy for your first short-term visa and for border control.

I'm a nobody from a 3rd-world country and have always done that with 100% success rate over a decade. I keep visiting the US regularly and I always have a way to somehow ensure I intend to leave the country. The questions at the border keep getting shorter and quicker every time.

Unfortunately, that's how it works, in my experience.

[mcny]

Why would you buy a ticket before you get a visa?

[somethingsright]

All countries require some confirmation you can pay for the stay and will get out. Some countries ask for a return ticket and hotel stay - it indicates that the traveller has some means of paying those amounts. US does not need those before visa issue. In many cases, people cancel the flight ticket after visa issue; and definitely book a more suitable hotel.

Anecdote time: Interpretation of the guidance is upto the visa issuing officer. Normally they want a ticket getting out of the destination country. But in one case the officer wanted me to 'return' back to the country where I was starting the travel from. So I had to show him the ticket for the third leg of the flight: A -> B -> C -> A

[coderholic]

To increase your chances of getting the visa.

Sometimes it's even required. I traveled to Nigeria from the US (on a British passport) and needed to turn up to the visa appointment with proof of flights and accommodation.