Please go to the Department of State’s visa site for official information on the visa application process.
To help in preparing for your trip, we encourage our foreign participants to apply for their visas as early as possible – we are recommending at least 4 months before the meeting. Some consulates may have backlogs in scheduling visa interviews so applicants should first contact the consulate to find out how long the wait is for an interview. Visa wait times are available at http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/temp/wait/wait_4638.html
International travelers who are seeking to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program must apply on this web site: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/.
Another useful link is the National Academies website http://www.nationalacademies.org/visas. There is a great deal of information here and if you have difficulty getting your visa, please complete the questionnaire on their site. Be sure to identify yourself as one of our Sanibel participants by including the name of our meeting in the “Purpose of Visit” field on the questionnaire. They can inquire at the Department of State about the status of visa applications that have been pending for more than 60 days.
Please email us at sanibel@qtp.ufl.edu if you have any questions.