Visas

Interview requirements for obtaining a visa may now be more stringent than in years past, and visas may take longer to approve. All international attendees who will need to obtain a visa to enter the United States are urged to contact the nearest US Embassy or Consulate and begin the application process as soon as possible but no later than three months before the meeting. Because of the number of visas being processed and the need to be thorough with the reviews, this can take as long 8 weeks, especially for those countries that are on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List. Attendees from these countries should start the application process at least 6 months in advance of the meeting. This meeting is registered with the U.S. State Department, which sends all U.S. consulates a list of approved meetings.

For official information on the visa application process, visit http://travel.state.gov/visa or http://www.nationalacademies.org/visas.

Visa wait times may be found at http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/wait/tempvisitors_wait.php.

A listing of U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide may be found at http://usembassy.state.gov/.

A step by step guide of the visa application process, click here.

Visa Waiver Program

International attendees who are nationals of countries listed in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) may be able to travel to the United States for 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.

To find out if you are eligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program, please visit:
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

Please note: All VWP travelers from the 27 eligible countries, regardless of age or type of passport used, must present individual machine-readable passports to enter the United States.

Visa Problems

If the status of your visa applications is pending for more than 20 days, please report your case to The National Academies. You will be asked to complete an online questionnaire. To help The National Academies identify you as a participant of this meeting, please include the name of the conference in the "Purpose of Visit" field on the questionnaire. The questionnaire may be found at: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/visas/Visa_Questionnaire.html

Requests for Letters of Invitation

To assist international attendees in obtaining a visa, the Biophysical Society will issue you a letter of invitation that you may present at your interview. To obtain a letter of invitation you must first register for the meeting and pay any registration fees in full. No letters will be issued without a paid conference registration. Please send requests, including registration receipt, to society@biophysics.org. A letter of invitation will be emailed to you on Biophysical Society letterhead.

Currency Exchange

International attendees who need to exchange foreign currency for U.S. dollars may do so at these locations:

Boston Private Bank & Trust Company
157 Seaport Boulevard
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 646-4880

Sovereign Bank
200 Seaport Boulevard
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 345-8004

Other Useful Links

Universal Currency Converter
International Cellular Services
The World Clock-Time Zones