i have a friend who has been invited to talk at a seminar in the USA in July , he has a EU passport but lives in Thailand ( Phuket) he will travel for a maximum of two weeks , what does he need to do to obtain a visa ?

Cheers

The place to start is here: http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/non-immigrant_visas.html

Mac

You say he has an EU passport - depending which EU country that is, he is probably eligible for the Visa Waiver Program. No visa required, but he does need to register for ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). Do this online at the Customs & Border Patrol official site - watch out for the hundreds of scam sites that try to get you to pay extra for an ESTA application: they add absolutely no value. The official site is at http://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta. Used to be free but now there is a fee - I believe it's about $20 - so your friend will need a credit card to obtain his ESTA online. Once obtained, an ESTA is valid for 2 years unless passport details change.