Visa Information for International Delegates

All international visitors must possess a valid passport in order to enter the United States. Some participants from outside the United States will need to apply for a visa at the American embassy, consulate, or other visa-issuing office in their country of origin.

Recently, the U.S. has updated its visa policies to increase security for our citizens and visitors. It will likely take longer to get a visa than it used to, and applicants may find that a few new security measures have been put into place. For details that may apply to a specific country, see information posted by the nearest consulate or embassy, or visit http://travel.state.gov/visa.

With this in mind, we strongly recommend that all participants needing to obtain a visa to attend the 6th Combined Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, October 20-24, 2007, 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 websites 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