ICANN 57: You Will Need A Conference Visa. Seriously.

Over the past few weeks many people within the ICANN Community have begun the process of applying for their visas to attend ICANN 57 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre in Hyderabad India.

ICANN has provided quite a bit of information about the visa requirements and the process on their site, including a fairly detailed guide to completing the application form. Their head of meetings Nick Tomasso has also posted two pieces on the ICANN site with information for attendees here and here. The second article focussing on the visa requirements.

So what about the visas?

While there are multiple types of visa available for India, the main types that people are talking about appear to be:

  • a business visa, which would be valid for multiple entries for up to a year
  • a tourist visa
  • a conference visa, which is the type of visa that ICANN had been encouraging people to get

According to a letter from the Indian authorities that ICANN’s meeting staff have shared it’s now clear that the Indian government expect attendees to get a conference visa. Even if you already have a business visa they expect you to get the conference visa as well.

Here’s the letter:

[spiderpowa-pdf src=”https://www.internetnews.me/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/icann57-india-clarification-letter-31aug16-en.pdf”]icann57-india-clarification-letter-31aug16-en

Based on my own experience with the process so far the invitation letter from ICANN is sent out automatically when you ask for it here. You will also need to get the letter from the local host, which can take several days to be sent. Allow 7 to 10 days.

NB: the exact process for applying for a visa may vary from country to country. Check with the nearest Indian embassy or consular mission for details. Visa requirements are often tied to reciprocity between countries, so they are NOT uniform.

By Michele Neylon

Michele is founder and managing director of Irish domain registrar and hosting company Blacknight. Michele has been deeply involved in domain and internet policy discussions for more than a decade. He also co-hosts the Technology.ie podcast.

3 comments

  1. The application is ridiculous and the process confusing. It even asks for your religion. Apparently, in the U.S. You are not supposed to go thorough the local mission but through some third party private company called CKGS. Thanks ICANN.

    1. Marc
      Apparently they’ve outsourced the visa process to that 3rd party company in some areas, but if you live close to an Indian embassy or consular mission you *should* be able to deal with them directly. This was mentioned on the webinar that ICANN held earlier today.

      While I appreciate that the process is a bit convoluted and confusing it’s the government that’s calling the shots, not ICANN.

      Thanks for your comment

      Michele

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