NAIST coordinated with the U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe to hold an information session on U.S. visas for our faculty, administrative staff, and students to facilitate their travels. On November 22nd, 2017 Mr. Joe Freeman (Vice Consul), and Ms. Tomoko Takatori (Visa Assistant/Consular Outreach Coordinator) from the U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe visited NAIST and spoke on various areas concerning immigration to the attendees (14 faculty and staff members, 11 students).

Due to tightened immigration control and homeland security in the U.S., timely and appropriate application to obtain visas is of utmost importance for anyone planning to visit the U.S. Mr. Freeman and Ms. Takatori explained U.S. visas (B-1/B-2, F-1 and J-1) and their application processes in detail. They followed this with specific examples and visa interview demonstrations, highlighting visa category differences, nationality and other situations and conditions of prospective visa applicants.

The information session was extremely helpful for the attendees to understand how visa application procedures may vary with their plans and circumstances.