Visa Information

URGENT MESSAGE ABOUT VISA APPLICATION: China has recently changed its visa policy before the Olympics to require visa applicants to apply for a visa in their home countries unless they have been to China before. We encourage everyone to apply for a tourist visa in their home countries to avoid the problem caused by the new policy. Note that visa applicants who have not been to China before is unlikely to get a visa if they do apply for a visa in a country that is not their home countries. People who request for an invitation letter should try to use it for their applications in their home countries' consulate/embassy. For your information, a few applicants were able to obtain visa outside their home countries.

For entry into China, non-Chinese citizens should apply for a visa at the Chinese Embassy or Consulate in the region they live. Ms. Fang Liu (ICT, CAS) and Ms. Weiwei Huang (Intel) are responsible for helping the ISCA attendees with the visa issue. You can list one of them as the contact person in the visa application form (the Q1 form). If you meet difficulty in obtaining the visa to attend the conference, you may contact them for direct assistance. Their contact information is:

Ms. Fang Liu Institute of Computing Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences No. 6 Kexueyuan South Road Beijing 100080, China	Tel: +86-10-82610460 Fax: +86-10-62560019 E-mail: liuf@ncic.ac.cn

Ms. Weiwei Huang Intel China Research Center	Tel:+86-10-82171814 Fax:+86-10-82861407 E-mail: weiwei.huang@intel.com

There are two types of visas. The conference attendees are encouraged to apply for a tourist visa.

Tourist Visa (L Visa):
The simplest way is to apply for a tourist ("L") visa, which should give you enough time to attend the conference and participate in pre/post conference activities. Most attendees should be able to obtain a Tourist Visa. Please contact the Embassy or Consulate in your region for specific instructions. An official invitation letter is NOT required for obtaining a tourist visa. The regular processing time is 4-5 working days. Please plan ahead to allow enough time for visa processing. More information on obtaining a tourist ("L") visa in the United States can be found here. To fill the application form Q1, you should check the Tourism box.

Business Visa (F Visa):
If you have a problem on obtaining a tourist visa, please contact Ms. Fang Liu and Ms. Weiwei Huang to issue an official invitation letter to apply for a business visa. Obtaining the letter is time consuming, as the local organizer is obliged by regulation to check a number of things. In addition, please be reminded that the letter will be issued only to those who had registered to the conference. Application instructions for the business visa in the US can be find here.

Air Travel

The Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) is located in northeast of Beijing, capital of People's Republic of China, and 25.35km (15.75mi) from the Tiananmen Square, center of Beijing city. Both taxi and airport bus are available to get to and from the airport.

The following websites provide some useful information about traveling between the United States and China:

TravelSuperLink: discount airfare, trave agent list, airfare calendar display, etc.