Speaking at a U.S. Conference? Read This First

Affiliate Summit West 2010 is underway in Las Vegas, as I’m sure most of you reading this are aware of. But what you might not be aware of is that those speaking at the conference from other countries outside the U.S. need certain paperwork to do so.

This was news to me up until Sunday, when I came across a post by Lyndsay Walker, the director of marketing at Canada’s Web Shop in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Lyndsay was on her way to AFW, but could not cross into the United States because she was told she couldn’t speak at a conference where people pay to attend. Having spoken at such conferences in the past, she was obviously surprised to be told she wasn’t going anywhere.

In the blog post, Lyndsay describes her ordeal, which basically involved three separate interrogations by U.S. border officials at the airport.

In the end, her NEXUS privileges were revoked for life and a permanent mark was likely made on her file.

This type of situation can happen to anybody, especially to those who frequently travel to Internet marketing-related conferences and gatherings outside of their own country. While I know a number of speakers at ASW are from outside the U.S., it would be interesting to know if a) whether they told border officials they would be speaking, and b) if they did tell them, did they have the correct work visa?

While Lyndsay did nothing wrong, having not known the correct procedure, it’s definitely a wake-up call to those that travel who might not know the guidelines.

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