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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
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I completed a few international trips as a student - trips where we attended a conference, worked with a business in the country, did actual research, etc. Everybody I ever spoke with said that the tourist visa is actually the correct visa for this - you only ask for a student visa if you're enrolling in a local school and earning degree credit there.
I have no idea how universal that is or if there is some country out there that has a different view, but it always worked for me.
When we went to Cairo, we just bought visas from one of the bank booths near baggage claim and the immigration officer affixed them to our passports without saying much of anything to us.