I regret to inform you that my U.S. visa application was denied at the U.S. Consulate in Lagos (Victoria Island) on April 22, 2026. The decision was due to an alleged current US government visa restriction affecting Nigerian visa applicants which came into effect on January 1, 2026. This was despite my submission of all required documents, including the official ICM invitation letter.
To me the key is the potential for mistreatment of mathematicians from abroad. Last year there were a number of credible reports about scholars who were denied entry based on their political views. In a moment of widespread revulsion over the actions and rhetoric of the USA, this will have a chilling effect on the political expression of our international guests even in their home countries. Since attendance at the ICM can be professionally important, our international colleagues will be put in a bind.
I don't think this concern can be dismissed as farfetched. Over the past year the federal government has been determined to bring some of our worst fears into being. From my own international contacts, and from reading the international press, it seems this is also the consensus perception abroad. As our visitors contemplate crossing our border, it's a situation where perception becomes reality.
It is irresponsible to hold an event if you cannot guarantee the safety of its participants.
I was awarded an important financial grant to participate to ICM 2026 by a short communication (it was already accepted) if I get a VISA which is difficult as I am Tunisian.
I have been selected to participate in the congress, but my country is on the list of countries whose citizens are not eligible for a visa. This puts me at a disadvantage.
I would not risk travelling to America at present, for any purpose.
I cannot travel to the US with ESTA, despite being an EU national, because I have visited and worked with colleagues from Cuba. (This is a very minor, personal, drawback compared to the attacks enumerated in the petition, I only mention this as a symptom of the fact that the US is not currently a welcoming country to the wide mathematical community).
As a young Cuban mathematician, when I found out that the ICM was going to be in the US, I already knew I wouldn't be able to go.
I faced for the second time the USA travel ban and contacted ICM in October, informing them about the ban and asking that, if possible, they at least provide online attendance. Below is their response:
Thank you for reaching out to the ICM Contact Center asking about our streaming options.
ICM is designed to be an in-person conference and there is not an option to attend virtually.
Please let us know we can assist further.
Thank you,
ICM Contact Center
Their response was quite disappointing, as it suggested little to no concern about hosting the event in a country that excludes individuals based solely on nationality. They also made no apparent effort to offer any form of accommodation.
Fear of retaliation from my US-based employer (I am not a US citizen/person nor am I living on US soil).
Honestly, I'm afraid of direct repercussions by the US government. I guess that means their politics of fear is working.
Since last spring I feel unsafe living in [US city] and being an international PhD student at [private US university]. All international students, I talked to at the math department, share the same concerns and fears. At least two experienced discrimination based on race/citizenship from the local people in [US city]. What is more, all of us have received frightening and unhelpful emails from [private US University] International Student and Scholar [office]. Despite this, university administration stays completely silent. Math department professors also stay silent, and either ignore and don't believe us, or just try not to confront the [private US University] administration not to lose funding for hiring.
Sad to see that the US became a lawless country with state military used in racial discrimination by a convicted criminal. No place for a responsible meeting.
Mathematics suffers when voices are excluded. Let us meet where all are welcome. Let us not implicitly endorse the marginalization of our international colleagues.
What's happening in the USA is horrifying (as a latine USA resident) and mathematicians from around the world would be unsafe coming here.
The values of ICM are sharing the science across the world, which is opposed to the US government and ICE treatment of scientists and foreigners.
Signing anonymously as US immigration policy cracks down on people who have made liberal political statements.
I'm a transgender woman. USA is currently conducting a genocide on its transgender population (a crime against humanity); and it is not safe for ANY TRANSGENDER PERSON to visit USA right now. If the IMU feels that transgender people should be doing mathematics, and, possibly, attending the Congress - they should really move ICM out of this dangerous country.
I wish to remain anonymous because of the current status of the government, and for mine and my family’s safety. So that I am not placed on a list or targeted by any of these criminal organizations that we have dubbed lawful and part of the government. I believe in this cause, because I myself I am born from a Mexican immigrant. The acts they are performing on citizens, and the immigrants in this country can be called nothing else but heinous and atrocious, and it brings tears to my eyes that I no longer even feel like I belong in this country.
I want to bring to your attention an immigration incident that impacted the Korean community, and that is at the top of the minds of many Korean mathematicians when it comes to US treatment of immigrants.
In September, almost 500 tech workers were detained at a Hyundai facility in Georgia, their waists and ankles shackled in chains as if they were beasts. Koreans were outraged at this, in no small part because Korea has been colonized and subjugated for most of its history.
Many Koreans will be excluded from the ICM due to their concerns about these Hyundai workers who were, frankly, pretty adjacent to many of us. Something to keep in mind in conversations with people about this issue.
If you send out an email to petition signers, you may want to include this: ICE kidnapping people at airports, in a "safe" state.
There is precedent for venue-change in response to an outbreak of war, for example in Russia. Ostensibly this was for security reasons, rather than a political statement; I would argue ICE is more of a risk for nonwhite participants than a Ukrainian missile.
Morally, the mathematics community should not support a country which bombed the college that gave us the [first] female winner of the Fields medal, without at the very least extracting a statement by American mathematicians condemning their country's complicity this and other atrocities against the civilian populations of Iran (and Gaza).
“I originally wasn't going to sign ... The B1 Bridge bombing, and the US president celebrating this apparent war crime targeting civilian infrastructure, was ... too far for me. The Trump administration needs to experience some pressure for its lawless behavior.”
For me, this was already a clear “no” when the situation in Venezuela happened.
The US-Israeli war on Iran is against all international laws and norms, the way it is conducted is a full act of aggression. In fact, this time, even might does not (cannot) make it right!
The comments of the IMU in 2022, announcing the move of the ICM from St. Petersburg to online, should be deeply considered. What are the differences between the decision then, and the high-minded comments about internationalism and transcending political divisions now? I do not wish to participate in the hypocrisy.
I agree that the country is becoming hostile to immigrants or even visitors, and that it may be unsafe to hold events in the States. Also, even if it were completely safe, I think that signalling to the US that it must "play fair" to be treated as a part of the international scientific community is a good idea. Isolationist policy begets isolation, and holding events elsewhere helps to demonstrate this.
Condemn war crimes and atrocities committed by USA and support the petition for moving out the ICM from USA.
The US is a violent imperialist rogue state
I am signing in solidarity with the victims of racist acts of ICM and also against American interventions in the Middle East.
Condemn war crimes and atrocities committed by USA and support the petition for moving out the ICM from USA.
The US no longer deserves the honor to host science in any form due to its warmongering.
Stop the imperialism!
At a time when sober military analysts like Lawrence Wilkerson are expressing fears that the war against Iran being waged by the United States and Israel could culminate in the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, this expression of outrage by the international mathematical community is a matter of extreme urgency.
As a Colombian, I have observed how geopolitical decisions affect scientific communities
수학은 진리와 정의를 위한 학문입니다
Boycotting an American destination for the ICM sends an important message of opposition from a learned community.
Surely not coming to the USA for a long time.
The IMU should relocate the 2026 ICM from the United States due to systemic human rights concerns, discriminatory immigration enforcement, and aggressive foreign policy actions that undermine the safety and unity of the global mathematical community.
I think the attitude of IMU is awful and detestable. Another manifestation of Western arrogance? I am wondering whether, if the IMU president had been a woman, the answer would have been different.
In Argentina, we are fighting for the survival of science, which is threatened and defunded by the current Argentine government, an unconditional ally of the US federal government.
When the IMU decided to move the 2022 ICM out of Russia, it sent a strong message about responsibility and global solidarity. However, seeing that similar concerns have been raised about the USA for ICM 2026, and that no comparable action has been taken, makes me question the consistency of these decisions...This situation makes me feel that there is a double standard in how political contexts are evaluated when deciding where to host such an important international event. For me, the ICM should represent inclusivity, safety, and equal access for mathematicians from all countries.
Solidarity with all oppressed peoples!!
I'm very surprised that the exact same organizers who moved everything from Russia even before the official ICM was moved, are now organizing satellite conferences in the US in Nashville.
In solidarity with mathematicians of the Global South, the IMU's legitimacy to society beyond the mathematics field is at stake. In respect for the imperative role and contributions of mathematicians residing outside the US and who are advancing the field from the margins of the Western world, the IMU must reject the United States as a viable host for the ICM or else risk backsliding into the same decay the world is currently witnessing in the US empire.
Being from Russia, and in Russia in 2022, I remember the decision to cancel the ICM and all the satellite conferences. For me, it was extremely disappointing that I would not be able to attend the very first conference my advisor recommended to me, which was supposed to be in Moscow (and was moved to New York). But it was the right decision to cancel and move everything, and I completely support that.
C'est une belle perspective, surtout si cela aide à rendre la science plus accessible et inclusive. Rétablir l'équité dans la recherche peut vraiment faire une grande différence, non seulement pour les chercheurs, mais aussi pour les communautés qui bénéficient des découvertes scientifiques. Si des initiatives comme celles-ci permettent une meilleure collaboration internationale et interdisciplinaire, ça peut réellement mener à des progrès significatifs.
Stop Wars! Free Gaza!
Enquelab Zindabad!
This is hypocrisy at it's peak!
Mathematics, and science more broadly, should go beyond partisan concerns.
The ICM 2026 must be held outside the USA. By dignity!
Free Palestine.
We must win the working class to internationalism! Do math for the working class not the capitalist class. It is idealism to claim math is pure theory that only serves the math community.
I care for the well being of each mathematician on this planet and from this spirit I sign this petition.
It is possible to participate to the satellite ICM 2026 event (WM)^2 the World Meeting for Women in Mathematics on July 22 2026 online for free
The ICM possibly should provide everybody with the same opportunity for participation.
It will be great to make it possible for all of us to attend this important meeting.
It is only fair to apply the same standard.
The cause is just. I fear it may be difficult to find a host country that has not aided the genocide in Gaza :(
For a safe environment for all the members of our community
I love to be part of the global mathematical community for impactful works for humanity and the earth.
The arrogance, cruelty, and aggression of the Trump regime is unacceptable. Please move the conference to a country that respects human rights and global norms of civilized behavior.
ICM cannot promote the deliberate destruction of academic integrity among mathematicians.
Trump es un genocida.
I’ve been contacting people in (mostly European) mathematics since more than 6 months I think. Back then I was focused mostly on the flagrant attacks on science from the USA government, which has now been replaced with attacks using actual bombs… what a world we live in :(
I intend at some point, when my personal circumstances are more favourable, to study for a PhD and possibly try to build a career as a mathematician; but in any case, I am deeply concerned for the safety of the mathematicians attending, and even survival of the profession itself, if the ICM goes ahead in the US as planned.
May Peace Prevail on Earth