Other Matters for Visiting Singapore and the USA
The first step for all SMART postdocs/research scientists, SMA3/SMART graduate students and SMART collaborators visiting MIT is to contact Jocelyn Sales (jsales@mit.edu). She will provide you with a checklist and detailed information on the process and required documentation for obtaining (i) a MIT appointment and (ii) a visa.
In addition to a visa, all individual visiting MIT for SMART related research, require a MIT appointment regardless of the duration of the visit. The Office of the MIT VP for Research has asked that all SMART appointments be processed through a single point of contact, and therefore appointments & travel to MIT must be processed through Jocelyn Sales. If the MIT appointment is not processed by SMART, the trip cannot be charged to a SMART account.
The process for obtaining an MIT appointment typically takes 3 weeks. The process for obtaining a visa typically takes 3 months though occasionally it can take longer for citizens of certain countries.