Telepresence attendance application is now open!

Update May 1, 2017:  The US travel ban on people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen is currently on hold while it is reviewed by the court system.  Thus far we know of no individuals from these countries who have failed to receive a visa on time.  However, there have been isolated cases of people from other countries being denied a visa.  We urge anyone who has faced visa issues to contact us at generalchairs@chi2017.acm.org to see if other arrangements (such as telepresence attendance) can be arranged.

Update Mar 8, 2017: The new version of the US travel ban affects people with passports from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen but not Iraq. For these six countries, visa processing is likely to be delayed.  The new ban supposedly only affects people who do not already have a visa in place at the time it goes into effect. If you were planning to attend CHI 2017 and are one of the people directly affected by this ban, please email us at generalchairs@chi2017.acm.org and we will do whatever we can to help. It is quite likely this ban will also end up in court. We will be continuing to monitor the situation and will post further updates here.

Please be assured that the organizers of CHI 2017 will do everything we can to enable remote participation should anyone be blocked from entering the U.S.  We are currently exploring options such as telepresence. We are currently analyzing the results of an anonymous survey for members of our community from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to  understand what technology might be needed.  Thanks to all the respondents and everyone who helped us get this survey out to members of the affected communities.

We welcome suggestions and questions from the community about this topic.  Please email us at generalchairs@chi2017.acm.org.

We recommend that people follow updates on the status of the executive order. Here are a few of the websites that show frequent updates:

• Chronicle of Higher Education
• Reuters
• Associated Press
• BBC

Sue and Gloria, CHI 2017 General Chairs