International Travel
Refund policy for Attendees & Travel Grant recipients traveling internationally
International travel to the United States has become a greater risk for many in our community. In light of current conditions, PyCon US would like to highlight the support we provide for international travelers. If you are traveling internationally to PyCon US, take note of the following information. Travel Grant applicants should take note of additional information specific to that process in the second section.
For All International Travelers to PyCon US
In order to better assist our international community, we have the following refund policy for all attendees of PyCon US:
- If despite holding a visa you are denied entry upon arrival to the United States, then after you pursue and receive whatever refund your airline might be able to offer, PyCon US wants to send you enough money to cover the rest of the cost of your airfare. You will need to document that you indeed arrived in the United States and were denied entry.
- If despite holding a visa you are denied entry upon arrival to the United States, but used our registration page to book a room in a conference hotel, our staff will personally work with the hotel to make sure you do not have to pay a cancellation fee.
- If despite holding a visa you are denied entry upon arrival to the United States, PyCon US will fully refund your registration fee. While this is more serious for our conference budget — at such a late date, we will be unlikely to be able to register someone else in your place — we have decided to put the financial safety of our international travelers first.
Please note the above policy only applies to attendees not traveling to or from OFAC sanctioned countries. In the event that you have a refund request or questions, please contact our registration team.
For International Travelers who are applying for a Travel Grant
We have the following policies for recipients of Travel Grants.
While PyCon US’s Travel Grant program does strive to make travel possible for a broader audience than can not comfortably attend the conference on their own budget, it cannot eliminate the risks of travel. Indeed, our mechanism for delivering awarded funds — a disbursement collected at the conference itself — can only succeed for travelers who actually reach PyCon US.
With that in mind, let’s review the risks of traveling to PyCon US that Travel Grant recipients may encounter, and then learn about the promise that the conference makes for refunds:
- Approved Travel Grant applicants can ask to have their visa fee reimbursed, even if their visa is denied. See our FAQ page for a complete list of costs that are covered by PyCon US’s Travel Grant award. You should apply for your visa, if you decide to attend, right after you receive our response to your Travel Grant application (January 30, 2023).
As you start the visa application process, go ahead and register for the conference. You can do so without risk: we always fully refund a registration fee when a visa application is denied. We even waive our usual $50 fee for processing a cancellation — you receive back the full registration fee that you paid! - We advise you to delay any non-refundable travel purchases until after you have been granted a visa. Many applicants wait until they have their visa in hand before they even book a hotel room, and almost everyone waits until the visa arrives before purchasing airfare.
The deadline for applying to PyCon US 2023 for Travel Grants is January 20, 2023 (23:59:59 on Jan 20th AoE)! The link to the application is on our main information page. If you have a refund request or questions, please contact our Travel Grant team.
We hope that these extra guarantees beyond the normal terms of our refund policy will help attendees plan more confidently and will continue to make PyCon US 2023 an option for as many Pythonistas from around the world as possible.