Re: [802SEC] VISA requirements for Singapore for 802 participants who are not US citizens

[Geoff Thompson <gthompso@nortelnetworks.com>]

Bob-

At 02:27 PM 3/27/2003 -0500, Bob Heile wrote:
> Geoff
>
> As I indicated in an earlier email, we have referred this to the meeting
> planners and Cisco in Singapore for recommendations on how best to take
> care of this.  Stuart and I are following up by phone tonight and
> with luck we can get an answer fairly quickly.  Part of the meeting
> registration process already asks whether a letter is needed so the
> solution may be academic and all we need to do is make it more visible on
> the web sites.  

I have to confess that the visibility was below my line of sight

> Stay tuned.
>
> Bob 

Thanks

Geoff

At 11:51 AM 3/27/03 -0800, Geoff Thompson wrote:

Colleagues-

Apparently there is a problem, or at a minimum a complication, for folks who wish to attend the wireless meetings in Singapore. A "Letter of Introduction" (LOI) and a "form V52" is required by Singapore along with the visa application. According to the web site, these must be completed by a sponsoring person or corporation from within Singapore.

This affects citizens from a number of countries whose membership is represented within 802 (e.g. India, Pakistan, PRC, Hong Kong, Egypt). Further, to my mind, it significantly inhibits our ability to have meetings that are "open" to new participants.

I have no idea who should be approached to satisfy these requirements. The existence of the requirement and the procedure/contact to satisfy it should be included with the meeting notice on the web site(s).

Please fix this and send an announcement to the reflectors when updated information is available.

We will need to have a discussion at the next plenary on guidelines for appropriate meeting locations.

Thank you.

Geoff Thompson, Vice Chair, IEEE 802


At 12:57 PM 3/27/2003 -0500, Mark Klerer wrote:

Geoff,

I have gone to the Singapore website - here is the info about the "Letter of Introduction" (LOI). Indian nationals are included in the ones that require Visa's. Many US and Canada based companies have Indian Nationals in their employee.  Other countries impacted are China and Russia.

(b) To apply for an entry visa, the applicant should complete Form 14 as well as furnish a copy of Form V39A (Letter of Introduction- LOI) issued by a Local Contact in Singapore. The local contact can be a Singapore citizen, Singapore Permanent Resident or a Singapore registered corporation. In the case of business visits, the local contact must be a Singapore registered corporation. If you are not able to furnish a LOI from a local contact, you may approach your Embassy or Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a LOI to support your visa application.

The web site is at  http://www.mfa.gov.sg/consular/visa/visa_reqforeign.htm So unless we can get the govt to issue some blanket "number" that identifies us - we ought to get such a letter to evryone attending that needs one.

Mark Klerer
(From the ITU-R Meeting in Brazil)

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Thompson [mailto:gthompso@nortelnetworks.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 8:34 PM
To: Jim Lansford
Cc: Geoff Thompson; bheile@ieee.org; stuart.kerry@philips.com; marks@boulder.nist.gov; M.Klerer@flarion.com; carlstevenson@agere.com; thompson@ieee.org; p.nikolich@ieee.org; mjsherman@research.att.com
Subject: RE: News updates from Singapore

Jim-

See attached below.

Is a "letter" really necessary? Can you ask whoever our government contact is?
I have trouble with this, a copy of a meeting notice (and perhaps a copy of an IEEE membership card) should be sufficient in all cases (US and Canada too.)

Or am I being naive?

Geoff

At 05:58 PM 3/25/2003 -0600, Jim Lansford wrote:

Geoff,

(Material deleted, was on another topic, GOT)

Best regards,
Jim

Jim Lansford, Ph.D.
VP, Business Development
Mobilian Corporation
Chair, IEEE 802.19 Coexistence TAG
www.ieee802.org/19
jim.lansford@ieee.org
Phone: +1 405 377 6170
Fax: +1 425 671 6099
Mobile: +1 405 714 0074

========================================================
From: "Tetlow, Sherry S [GMG]" <sherry.s.tetlow@mail.sprint.com>
To: "'Thompson@ieee.org'" <Thompson@ieee.org>
Cc: "Sheikh, Khurram P [GMG]" <khurram.p.sheikh@mail.sprint.com>
Subject: 802.20 Conference in Singapore
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 14:08:56 -0600

Mr. Thompson;

Khurram Sheikh Chief Technical Advisor for Sprint, would like to attend the
802.20 conference in Singapore from May 11th to the 15th.  Is it possible
for you to fax a letter of invitation to Khurram for his visa?  The letter
must be on letterhead and include the address in Singapore for the
conference and a  signature.  Please fax it to me at 913-762-0523.  Feel
free to call me if you have any questions at 913-762-1581.  We would like to
get the letter as soon as possible since it takes several weeks to obtain
the visa.
Thank you in advance for your consideration regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Sherry Tetlow

Sherry Tetlow
Exec. Admin. I,
to Khurram Sheikh,
Chief Technical Advisor, SBD Network Organization
913-762-1581
816-885-9904 PCS
sherry.s.tetlow@mail.sprint.com

Bob Heile, Ph.D
Chair, IEEE 802.15 Working Group on Wireless Personal Area Networks
Chair, ZigBee Alliance
11 Louis Road
Attleboro, MA  02703   USA
Phone: 508-222-1393
Mobile: 781-929-4832
Fax:        508-222-0515
email:   bheile@ieee.org