Annual Meeting Home Page

2009 Exhibitors & Annual Meeting Sponsors

Business Meeting

Career Choices Forum and Luncheon

General Information

Grant Writing Workshop

Housing & Travel

Invitation to Exhibit and Support

Kappa Delta Award Paper Presentations

Meeting at a Glance

Meeting Information and Schedule

Meet the Industry Members Luncheon

Meet the Mentors Luncheon

Registration Information

Visa Information for International Delegates

ORS Women's Leadership Forum

Workshops / Symposia

Visa Information for International Delegates

IImportant Notice for International Delegates Planning to Attend the Annual Meeting of the ORS.

The United States Department of State has implemented a major policy change requiring that everyone seeking a visa to enter the U.S. schedule a face-to-face interview at a U.S. Consulate office.

With this in mind, we strongly recommend that all participants needing to obtain a visa to attend the 55th Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 22-25, 2009, start the application process as soon as possible. We also advise contacting the local U.S. Consulate before beginning the process to obtain and follow all instructions. Most consulates and embassies have web sites that can be accessed through www.state.gov. This is the easiest way to obtain information about consular procedures and requirements. This new policy will not affect citizens from the 27 countries currently participating in the Visa Waiver Program (including, but not limited to, Canada, Japan and many European countries), who by law do not need visas for tourist or business travel to the United States.

Print a standardized invitation

Passports     http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

For more information please visit the following links:

U.S. VISA LINKS

Do you require a visa?    www.unitedstatesvisas.gov

How do you apply for a visa?   www.travel.state.gov/visa

Check the status of a pending visa application >30 days.
Click on Visa Questionnaire. Complete and submit.    www.nationalacademies.org/visas

Visa Waiver Program
International travelers, who are nationals of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries, seeking to travel to the United States without a visa, should review this important information on passport requirements for travelers under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). All VWP travelers, regardless of age or type of passport used, must present individual machine -readable passports.  Previous one-time exemptions for first-time VWP travelers without MRPs ended June 26, 2005. In addition, depending on when VWP travelers’ passports were issued, other passport requirements apply:

• Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended on or after 10/26/06 – requires integrated chip with information from the data page (e-Passport).
• Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended between 10/26/05 and 10/25/06 – requires digital photograph printed on the data page or integrated chip with information from the data page.
• Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended before 10/26/05 – no further requirements.
• Temporary, emergency, official and diplomatic passports are exempted from biometric digital photo and chip requirements, but must be machine-readable.
• Italian, French and Temporary German Passports    

If a traveler cannot meet all of the requirements, he/she must obtain a visa for entry to the United States, and cannot travel without a visa on VWP. See  Visa Waiver Program on the DHS, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website for additional information.

   http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

U.S.-Visit
US-VISIT applies to all visitors holding non-immigrant visas, regardless of country of origin. Visitors are photographed and fingerprinted upon arrival. The quick and efficient processes take a few seconds in most cases. Goals of the program are to enhance the security of citizens and visitors and facilitate legitimate travel and trade.

   http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/content_multi_image/content_multi_image_0006.xml