Meeting attendees from countries that
require a visa to enter the United States are reminded that the process
for obtaining a visa may take several months. You are strongly
encouraged to plan ahead and begin the application process early.
There
is no way to guarantee that you will be issued a visa. However, there
are certainly things that you can do to improve your likelihood of
success.
Please recognize that United States law assumes that
anyone who applies for a non-immigrant visa actually intends to
immigrate. The burden of proving otherwise is placed on you. Therefore,
you should emphasize the temporary nature of your visit in your
interview.
It is helpful if you are able to provide the following:
1. A letter inviting you to the United States for a specific purpose, for a defined period of time.
2. Evidence of previous international travel.
3. Evidence of your economic, family, and social ties to your country of residence.
The American Ceramic
Society is happy to issue an invitation letter to you. To request an
invitation letter, please ACerS Customer Service by email customerservice@ceramics.org or telephone
at 1-240-646-7054.
We recommend that people from countries that must obtain visas to enter the United States wait to register for the conference until their visa is granted. This way cancellation fees can be avoided if a visa is unable to be obtained.
ADDITIONAL TRAVEL VISA INFORMATION
As soon as travel to
the U.S. is considered, foreign travelers should identify whether a
visa is needed. If the traveler already has a U.S. visa appropriate for
this travel, check the expiration date on the visa to make sure the
visa will not expire before the planned travel date. Contact the U.S.
Embassy or Consulate Consular Section in their homeland to determine
any additional visa procedures, the timeframe required to set up an
appointment for the interview, and schedule an appointment for the
interview. An interview is required for most visa applicants. The
waiting time for an interview appointment for most applicants is a few
weeks or less, but for some embassy consular sections it can be
considerably longer. Visa wait times are available at: http://travel.his.com/visa/tempvisitors_wait.php
For the 27 countries
in the Visa Waiver Program, citizens meeting the visa waiver criteria
will not need a visa, but they must have a machine-readable passport.
Please refer to http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/tempvisitors_novisa_waiver.html for more information on these requirements. Canadian citizens do not need a visa, but should visit: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1260.html for
more information. The U.S. Embassy Consular Section will decide, per
immigration law, about a particular applicant's eligibility for a given
visa type based on the information and documentation presented to the
consular officer. However, we can provide this information for you.
Except for Canadians and those who can travel on the visa waiver
program, anyone who wants to attend a business, educational,
professional, or amateur sports event, conference or meeting who is not
a government official, will generally need a visitor visa (B1/B2).
Media and journalists, including citizens from visa waiver program
countries, will generally need an "I" or media visa. Government
officials traveling for official purposes would need an "A" visa.
Please refer to the Department of State website for Visa Wait Times for
visa appointments at http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1260.html .
Advance planning by
foreign travelers is critical. We recommend all foreign travelers
consider the following when making their plans to travel to the United
States:
Some applicants will
need additional screening and will be notified when they apply. We
recommend contacting the Consular Section via the Internet at: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1260.html For a few countries, foreign travelers will need to contact the Consular Section by telephone.
If a visa is needed, foreign travelers should apply for his/her visa as
soon as possible, but no later than 60 days before the travel date. If
the conference is scientific in nature, or the applicant has a
scientific background, the visa application should be made no later
than 90 days in advance of the travel. Applicants should apply to the
U.S. Embassy Consular Section in his/her country of residence.
Under immigration
law, the applicant will need to overcome the presumption that he/she is
an intending immigrant. This is done by establishing, to the consular
officer's satisfaction, that he/she is not going to stay in the U.S.
based on strong compelling ties to his/her home country. The applicant
must establish that he/she plans to come to the U.S. for a definite
temporary period and that he/she has access to sufficient funds to
cover the entire trip.
Such documents, such
as letters of invitation, though not required in the instructions for
the visa application, would be for presentation to the consular officer
during the visa interview. The letter of invitation can provide
information about the conference or meeting by explaining the purpose
and specific plans of the intended travel, including an explanation of
any funding provided for the applicant. This letter cannot guarantee
the issuance of a visa.
Applicants for
nonimmigrant visas must show that they qualify individually on their
own merit per provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Applicants must demonstrate that they are properly classifiable as
non-immigrants under U.S. law and not on the basis of an American
sponsor's assurance.
The Department of
State recommends our web site as the first source of up-to-date visitor
visa information. Information about visitor visas, what a person needs
to apply and fees is available on our web site at: http://travel.state.gov.