Visa Information

April 4, 2008 – 10:57 pm

The Association for Computing Machinery does not issue formal invitation letters for visas to attend ACM sponsored conferences. We can however issue a visa support letter. For Visa support letters, please send all requests to the Office of SIG Services bucci@hq.acm.org with the following information:

• Name and mailing address as it appears on your passport
• The name of the conference you wish to attend
• Your Registration Confirmation Number
• If you are the author of any papers accepted for the conference, please provide the title.
• A valid fax number and current mailing address (**Please note: visa support letters are NOT issued via email)

Additional information is available at https://www.acm.org/sigs/volunteer_resources/conference_manual/visas

Visa regulations can be complex and often change. The U.S. has recently updated its visa policies and implemented new security measures in order to increase national security. Visa applications process will likely take longer than it has in the past. Therefore, we recommend that all delegates verify visa requirements with the American Consulate in their own country as soon as possible (see the U.S Notice on Current Visa Processing Situation). The information on this web site can serve as a useful starting point.

Note: The U.S. State Department website is as follows: https://travel.state.gov/ For an additional visa overview, go to the following U.S. State Department visa portal site, which is as follows: https://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/

Exemptions

Canadian citizens and landed immigrants of Canada having a common nationality with Canadians (i.e. British Commonwealth citizens) are already visa-exempt. Some other visitors to the U.S. are visa exempt under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This program’s benefits are limited to nationals of countries that extend reciprocal privileges to U.S. citizens and whose nationals have not been refused nonimmigrant visas beyond a specified rate. The waivers are open to nationals of any designated country regardless of their place of residence or point of embarkation.

For more information on the VWP, please visit the following website: https://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

Obtaining your Visa

A detailed outline is available on the following website:

https://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/obtainingvisa/index.html

It is important to remember that visa processing and operations can vary depending on local circumstances.

Locate the American Consulate or Embassy in your country

To locate the American Consulate or Embassy in your country, go to the following website: https://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/embassies/embassies_1214.html

More information

Visit https://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/ or https://travel.state.gov/ on a regular basis for updates and changes that could affect your travel plans.