[AISWorld] ICIS is 6 weeks away: visa information

[Galletta, Dennis]

Dear AISWorld Colleagues:

It is difficult to believe but ICIS 2011 is nearly here! This is a reminder that you will need a visa to visit Shanghai and to attend ICIS. It will take some time to get the visa processed, so there is not much time left to act.

Information is available at the ICIS 2011 website (http://icis2011.aisnet.org/Travel.html) but this email provides information from my own experience going through the process. The ICIS website recommends that you apply for the visa two months in advance, so the time is indeed drawing short.

Applying for the visa is not difficult but requires a few forms and documents. According to the Chinese Consulate website, you cannot do this yourself by mail. You have to either appear in person at your particular Consulate, or use a service. I used G3 visa service (www.g3visas.com<http://www.g3visas.com>) but many services are available that do the same. They also have rush services, and if you delay much more you will most likely need to make use of a rush service at extra cost.

Here is what you should have when you apply for the visa:


-          Passport with 6 months left and one blank visa page

-          One additional passport photo

-          Hotel registration information (Gran Melia is simply outstanding and there is still availability)

-          Visa service company's form, if applicable (G3 has an online PDF form to file that allows them to correspond with you online during the process)

-          Visa application form (the version depends on your country of citizenship). Business visa is said to be appropriate for a visa to attend a conference. G3's site takes you automatically to the right Consulate form after you fill out their online form.

-          Letter from ICIS (please download and replace the generic fields with your own). This pre-signed document on letterhead is from Lihua Huang of Fudan University.

-          Letter from your school, requested by my particular consulate. G3 provided me with a nice example that I tailored to my own school and printed on Pitt letterhead.

-          Travel itinerary from your airline (email from travel agency works)

It is indeed not difficult but it takes a couple of hours. Please do not procrastinate so that we will see you in Shanghai in only one day shy of 6 weeks!

Oh, and please do not forget to register for ICIS and your hotel!

We also are happy to report that the MIT-Sponsored ICIS in the Classroom event has enjoyed healthy registrations and we have a professional video firm waiting in the wings to tape the talks and to post them for use by your students. We are working out details about the address to provide to your students; I will announce the final address in the coming weeks. I am dependent on this event to cover one of my own MBA class sessions while I am in Shanghai.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Dennis Galletta and TP Liang, ICIS 2011 Co-Chairs

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Dennis F. Galletta                      Professor of Business Administration
University of Pittsburgh                 and Director, Katz Doctoral Program
282a Mervis Hall                            Katz Graduate School of Business
Phone +1 412-648-1699                                  Pittsburgh, PA  15260
E-mail: galletta @                                       Fax +1 412-648-1693
        katz.pitt.edu                       homepage: www.pitt.edu/~galletta<http://www.pitt.edu/~galletta>
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