Posted on behalf of Karen Kaplan

A terrific session about global partnerships that’s part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting this week fell a bit afoul of US visa regulations this morning. The panel presentation, “New Partnerships for Science in the Cradle of Humanity,” aimed to address and discuss existing and developing industrial, governmental and academic partnerships throughout Africa and with other nations. Great topic, great content. The problem? One of the session’s co-organizers, Thomas Egwang, executive director of the African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya, couldn’t be here for it — because he couldn’t get a US visa.

Sarah Banas, AAAS program organizer, says Egwang’s Ugandan passport tripped him up — he wasn’t able to update it in enough time to get the visa. Banas points out that Margaret Kigozi of the Uganda Investment Authority was able to step in to moderate the session, which ran smoothly despite Egwang’s absence. But the fact he was shut out from the very presentation he co-organized adds weight to a rising chorus of voices calling for a major overhaul of existing US visa laws.