Arrangements for the meeting of the 14th Pedestal and
Edge Physics ITPA Topical Group Meeting.

Dates: April 30 - May 2 (Wed. thru Friday) to be held at
General Atomics, San Diego, California.

The meeting will take place at General Atomics in San Diego, California USA from
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 to Friday, May 2, 2008.

Note that ITPA meetings are organized under the auspices of the ITPA Coordinating Committee and participation is restricted to scientists from the fusion communities affiliated with the ITPA Agreement (China, European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russian Federation and United States of America). Participants in the ITPA meetings must therefore be nominated by the fusion programme administration of one of the members. Information on the ITPA can be found here.

Participant Requirements

Participants to the various ITPA Meetings must make sure that they perform the following actions (in chronological order).

1. Visa Information: For those participants who require a visa in order to enter the U.S. you must submit the Non U.S. Citizen Form no later than March 1, 2008. Once this form has been submitted an invitation letter will be shipped to you as quickly as possible. Immediately upon receiving the invitation letter and supporting documents the participant is required to arrange for a U.S. Consulate interview as directed in the invitation letter. This action begins the visa process. Due to recent changes in the visa application procedure, the processing time for a visa has increased significantly. Unfortunately neither the U.S. Department of Energy or the sponsoring organizers can guarantee a visa will be issued in time to attend the meeting. If you have any questions regarding the visa process you may contact Brenda Bowman, International Relations Coordinator.
   Citizens of certain countries (visa waiver countries) do NOT need U.S. visas for entry.
   These countries are: Andorra Iceland Norway Australia Ireland Portugal Austria Italy San Marino Belgium Japan Singapore Brunei Liechtenstein Slovenia Denmark Luxembourg Spain Finland Monaco Sweden France the Netherlands Switzerland Germany New Zealand United Kingdom (also, Canadian citizens do no need visas).
   For verification on visa waiver countries see the following site: http://travel.state.gov/vwp.html. Citizens of these countries must make sure that they have machine readable passports (see the same site for more details).
   
   
2. Complete and submit the non-U.S. Citizen form by March 28, 2008. Note that submissions after this date can be accepted, but there is no guarantee that approval for entry to GA will be completed before the meeting.
   
   
3. Make reservations at hotel of your choice.
   
   
4. Complete and submit the registration form by March 28, 2008.
   
   
5. Complete and submit the cyber access form by March 28, 2008. The completed form should be printed out, signed and faxed to Kristi Keith at General Atomics.
   
   
6. Contact Tim Hender to submit title of presentation, if any. See agenda for updates.
   
   
7. Arrive at the GA visitor reception center by 8:00 A.M. of the first morning of your ITPA meeting to pickup badge. (see map of GA)
   
   Note: It is extremely important that all forms be filled out by the
   deadline dates.