University of Oregon

Oregon Programming Languages Summer School

Types, Logic, and Formal Methods

June 23-July 5, 2025

Jim's OPLSS Blog

 



It is never too early to work on obtaining travel papers to the US. The following are the guidelines I have offered successfully in the past.

OPLSS is a Conference, not a Course of Study
You are coming here on business to attend a scientific conference. OPLSS does not grant academic credit. Although OPLSS takes place on a university campus, it is not a course of study. You need to be clear that you are looking for a B1 business visa. Do not under any circumstances say or agree that you need a student visa. Once you say that you want a student visa or that you want to "study in the US", you will never be allowed to come to the US unless you have been accepted into a US degree-granting program.

Neither electronic pre-approval nor a visa guarantee that you are actually allowed in the US. On the day you arrive, a US border guard will decide whether you are allowed in the US. For that interview, the invitation letter I send will be useful.

For non-citizens of the US, you will need the following:
  • Travel papers to leave your country

    Most governments do not care if you leave their country, but you should check whether your government requires you to file any papers.

  • Travel papers to enter the United States

    The US has a Visa Waiver Program with many countries. The Visa Waiver Program does not apply to all citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries.

    • Travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program
      • A Passport from your country of citizenship

        To enter the US, your country of citizenship must issue you a passport. Also, you may need your passport as identification while here.

      • Electronic pre-approval from the US

        When you fill out the electronic pre-approval form, and when questioned at the border, be clear that you are coming here for a scientific conference. Even though you will have to say University of Oregon and OPLSS, you want to emphasize that it is business purpose. Do not write school, study or student. Education purposes require a visa, even from visa waiver countries, and OPLSS cannot supply you with the required paperwork to obtain a student visa.

    • Travel to the United States without the Visa Waiver Program
      • A Passport from your country of citizenship

        To enter the US, your country of citizenship must issue you a passport Also, you may need your passport as identification while here.

      • A business visa from the US State Department.

        The decision to grant a visa is left up to the US ambassador to your country and there is no appeal, so be prepared. Talk to others from your country who have attended conferences in the US. Different Ambassadors require different levels of evidence. The University of Oregon has no influence with the US ambassador to your country. If your interview goes badly, and you are asked to do another interview, plan to bring more evidence. If you have no more evidence, then there is no point in another interview.

        Be prepared for your visa interview. Do not have anything sent directly to the embassy. Bring all materials with you to the interview. If some piece of evidence is not in English or not in the interviewer's language (the locally spoken language of that embassy), it must be translated by a certified translator. This means, if you are studying in a country which speaks a language other than your native language, documents from your country of citizenship must be translated. Here are the things you may need at your interview at the US embassy:

        • DS-160 Visa Application Form Complete the form online, but bring the confirmation page showing you completed the form and paid the $185 application fee.
        • A valid passport issued by your country of citizenship
        • A photo (a copy of the photo you uploaded as part of the DS-160 application
        • Be prepared to submit all details of social media that you use.
        • Bank statements or other evidence that you will be able to pay all the costs of the trip.
        • Letters or printed social media showing you will not overstay your visa. This is very important. The interviewer must be assured that you are not a "risk to emigrate to the US". Evidence of this type can be communications with local relatives and friends showing they are dependent on your return and\or communications from your employer or academic advisor showing it would be more advantageous for you to remain in your country/program than relocate to the US. All things being equal, the interviewer will believe that it is advantageous for you to remain in the US, So, you must bring evidence to the contrary.

          It is not useful to bring evidence of relatives or friends currently living in the US, as this indicates you may be a risk to emigrate to the US.

        • I will issue a letter of invitation which you may also take to your visa interview, but it is not requried. The letter of invitation is used when arrive in the US.
        • I will issue an invoice which may be useful to you in showing what your expenses will be along with evidence of how you will cover your expenses, including letters from your institution or other source of funds you will use.
  • Travel papers to return to your country

    Before you leave your country, make sure you have any papers necessary to return to your country, probably, a passport.

Address for Visa Documents

When you get here, the building you will be staying in is:

1410 Agate Street
Eugene OR  97403
                  

The contact information for visa applications is

Zena Ariola
University of Oregon
Department of Computer and Information Science
1477 E. 13th Avenue
Eugene OR  97403
541-346-4448
ariola@cs.uoregon.edu
                  
Here, I will be posting updates on registration deadlines, when you should expect to be notified, how to get here, what to bring, etc.

If you apply (with a recommendation, if required) before March 31, you should hear back from us by April 10. If not, please send email to sumerschool@cs.uoregon.edu asking what happened to your application.

What to expect when you apply

When you fill out the registration form and hit apply,

  • Your browser will look over the form and make sure you haven't left anything blank or included a Letter of Motivation that is longer than 1MB. It will prompt you to fix that, if necessary. If there are no blanks, clicking submit should result in your browser showing a webpage from our server.
    • If our server is running normally, your browser will say you have successfully submitted your application.
    • If there is a problem with our server, your browser will say there is a problem with our server and you should email the information to us.
  • You should immediately receive an automated email to the account you gave us.
    • If you do not receive such an email, it probably means you mistyped your email address; so, you should immediately send an email to sumerschool@cs.uoregon.edu telling us you submitted an application but did not receive a reply.
    • An error encountered on our server will result in you receiving an email indicating an error occured. You should email sumerschool@cs.uoregon.edu with the information about the error, so we can fix it.
    In the reply email, it may indicate that your advisor must send a Letter of Recommendation. If so, please make sure your advisor sends this to sumerschool@cs.uoregon.edu before the registration deadline.

You should not hear further from us until about two weeks after the application deadline. However, you can send email to sumerschool@cs.uoregon.edu to inquire about your status or modify your application.







 
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