If you wish to attend the Los Angeles meeting, you need to consider the United States’ comparatively strict entry requirements. We have provided this guide to help people through the process of applying for and receiving the necessary permissions for attending the meeting.
We recommend that you apply for a tourist/business travel visa before 10 September 2007 to allow at least six weeks for processing. You will need some time before this date in order to compile the necessary documentation.
To request an invitation letter from ICANN for the meeting, click here

Background

Unless you are a US or Canadian citizen, or one a member of one of 27 countries that are part of the US’ visa waiver programme (see list below), you will need to get a visa to enter the country. Due to the increased security risk in recent years, the United States has put additional safeguards on visa applications with the result that it may take a significant length of time to get hold of a visa. The actual time it takes varies on where in the world you come from. The average time just for processing your application is two weeks, but Abuja in Nigeria for example has an average processing time of 44 days for US visas. It will also take time for you to compile the necessary information and visit the relevant US embassy. As such, ICANN’s advice if you are considering coming to the Los Angeles meeting is to apply before 10 September 2007.

Do I need a visa?

If you are a citizen of the countries listed below, you will not need a visa. You are entitled to spend up to 90 days within the United States. However you will need:
  • A passport with at least six months remaining on it (anything past May 2008 is fine)
  • Evidence of where you are staying in Los Angeles
  • Evidence of when you are leaving the US i.e. an airline ticket out of the country
Andorra Iceland Norway
Australia Ireland Portugal
Austria Italy San Marino
Belgium Japan Singapore
Brunei Liechtenstein Slovenia
Denmark Luxembourg Spain
Finland Monaco Sweden
France Netherlands Switzerland
Germany New Zealand United Kingdom
If you are not a citizen of the countries above (or a US or Canadian citizens), you will need to get a visa. See the next section.

How do I get a visa?

You will have to go through three basic steps to get a visa:
  1. Get all the documentation you need together
  2. Find out where your nearest US consulate is, and the likely processing time
  3. Visit the consulate/embassy in time to receive your visa for the meeting

Documentation

You will need the following documents:
  1. An invitation letter from ICANN (click here to get one)
  2. A passport valid until at least May 2008
  3. A recent passport photo
  4. The processing fee - typically $100
  5. Airline tickets confirming both entry and exit from the United States
Once you have this documentation, you have two US government forms you will need to fill in.
  • Go to this webpage and fill in form DS-156 online. Click "continue" and then print out the resulting pdf file.
  • Go here to get the supplemental form DS-157 [pdf] that asks for more details about you, your work and your travel arrangements. [Unless you are from North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Sudan or Iran, you may not be required to hand this form over - it is up to the consular officer.]
Print out both forms and add them to the documentation above to apply for the visa. You may also need to demonstrate that you can financially support yourself for the duration of your stay in the United States.
Note: We recommend that you apply for a tourist/business travel visa before 10 September 2007 to allow at least six weeks for processing.

Other issues

There are other issues that appear from time to time with respect to getting to an ICANN meeting. It is not possible to list all potential issues here, so we would strongly advise that you contact a travel expert in your country if you think there may any problems.

Transit visas

One issue is that of transit visas. Even if you have a visa for entry into the United States, you may on occasion need a transit visa if you land in one country to catch a second plane to the US. You may also need to present an airline ticket in order to obtain that transit visa. A travel argent will be able to help you.

Machine-readable passport

With increased computerisation has also come reliance on computer systems. If you do not have a machine-readable passport (usually a printed strip of letters and numbers at the bottom of your photo page), you may find that you have difficulty at customs. If possible, obtain a machine readable version of your passport.

Visiting the US consulate

You may be able to mail your documentation to the nearest US consulate, or you may have to attend in person. To find your nearest US consultate, go to this webpage and click on your country and/or the nearest city to you. Please note: there may not be a US embassy or consulate in your country, so you may have to visit the one nearest to you in a different country. One you have located your nearest US consultate, we advise that you telephone the consulate and explain that you wish to apply for a visa in order to attend a week-long conference in Los Angeles between 29 October and 2 November. They will then advise you whether you need to attend in person, or you can mail the documentation, whether you will be required to attend an interview, and how long the process is likely to take. You can get a good indication of the likely wait time for visa processing at your particular consulate from this webpage. Just select the location in the drop-down box and hit "get wait times".

Helpful Resources

Fortunately, the US visa application process is explained clearly and extensively online at various US government websites. Here are the most useful pages: If you have any additional queries or questions, please feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to assist you in any way we can.