<story><title>Adi Shamir Prevented from Attending Crypto and Cryptology Conferences</title><url>http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/27.54.html#subj1</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>buro9</author><text>My visa takes a long while.&lt;p&gt;Not quite as long as it took Adi Shamir, but long.&lt;p&gt;On average it takes about 14 weeks to get a visa, but on occasion it has taken many many months.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve done the calculations, the worst-case scenario for the full process is 32 weeks. It&amp;#x27;s never actually taken that long, but it&amp;#x27;s not been far off.&lt;p&gt;I remember having to explain to Microsoft that they needed to write a sponsor&amp;#x2F;supporting letter (for the US embassy) more than half a year in advance of any potential visit to Redmond that I&amp;#x27;d be working at. As this was for DAC (Developer Advisory Council) meetings that Microsoft only scheduled a month in advance they found themselves in a dilemma over this. Thankfully they agreed, and their legal department would author letters that a meeting would likely occur requiring my attendance, but it was always a slog of a process.&lt;p&gt;For those wondering, I was shortly married to a US citizen and I speculate that this triggers some flag or signal that makes them think I want to stay there (I don&amp;#x27;t). I also have an interesting past, having been homeless for a while. Who knows though, the system doesn&amp;#x27;t supply answers. It&amp;#x27;s a black box process.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a nightmare process that doesn&amp;#x27;t end when you have a visa. On arrival I experience the joys of &amp;quot;secondary&amp;quot;, and being sat in a waiting room for many hours before a 10-second interview in which they let me go my way.&lt;p&gt;Every part of the experience is a miserable one, always with the threat of an axe over the visit.&lt;p&gt;The vast majority of the time I have been invited, or had opportunities to visit, I just do not choose to visit the USA.</text></comment>
<story><title>Adi Shamir Prevented from Attending Crypto and Cryptology Conferences</title><url>http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/27.54.html#subj1</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>lvryc</author><text>I quite like the &amp;#x27;apology&amp;#x27; he received from the conference organizers:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; In July 2013 I told the NSA-affiliated conference organizers that I was having some problems in getting my visa, and gently asked whether they could do something about it. Always eager to help, the NSA people leaped into action, and immediately sent me a short email written with a lot of tact:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; “The trouble you are having is regrettable… Sorry you won’t be able to come to our conference. We have submitted our program and did not include you on it.”</text></comment>