0.15 Going to the world championship

This page is for the mentors and team members who handle the team's travel and registration.

We left the previous lesson at the moment the advancing teams were read out on stage. If your team's name was read out for the world championship at the end of the season, the work ahead of you is nothing like a day in the hall. This page does not describe the day. It puts in order the tasks on the desk of the person who runs the trip.

Confirming your place

The qualification notice reaches the team through official channels, and on its own it does not hold a place for you. The team needs to accept the invitation and complete the registration steps within the time given in the notice. The deadline and the steps are written in the notice itself. They change from season to season, so we do not write them here.

There are two separate jobs at this stage. One is the team's event registration, the other is the details of the people who will travel. Team registration is done once and can be completed before the traveling team is final. Personal details are entered once you know who is going. Do not treat them as the same job and hold the registration until the team decision.

The event has its own fee, and this fee is not part of the season registration the team pays in Türkiye. When we checked on 6 September 2026, FIRST's fee page showed 3,000 USD per team for an FTC team. This number can change by season; the current amount and the payment date are on the same page and in the notice. The local registration in the 0.4 Building a team and registering lesson does not replace it. This is a big number for a team; we come to ways of covering it in the next section.

Once registration is confirmed, three jobs open up on your desk, and each one waits on the others. You need to know who is going before you book flights and hotels, the visa application asks for your travel plan, and who is going is not final until the visa interview is done. So registration, visas and accommodation run side by side, not one after another. The next sections go through these jobs one by one.

The traveling team and travel costs

Mentors decide who goes, together with the school or organization and the parents. They look at who is needed on the field and in the pit, the adults who will come along, the budget, and each person's passport and visa situation. How many people the event accepts from a team and what it requires for adult supervision is written in the official event registration. Read it before you put the team together.

The costs fit in a short list. Event registration, flights, accommodation, visas, transporting the robot and daily needs. These items fall into two kinds. Event registration and transporting the robot are team costs, paid once. Flights, accommodation, visas and food are per-person costs that grow as the team grows. That is why the team decision and the budget are discussed at the same table.

When you look for support, you need to explain these items in concrete terms. You saw how in the 0.3 Budget, sponsors and presenting your team lesson. To split up the items, use the world championship budget file in the 0.K Resources and printables table. It is a working file with no figures; you fill in the numbers from that season's sources. We do not write a sample calculation in this lesson, because every number depends on the season and the size of the team.

Passports, visas and participation documents

Passports and visas are separate from the team's event registration. They belong to each person. First check whether everyone's passport covers the travel dates. Each person applies for a visa in their own name; there is no single application for the team.

This trip needs a US visitor visa, and the category is called B1/B2. You prepare the application, and the consular officer makes the decision at the interview. Being invited to the competition does not make that decision for you.

In Türkiye, applications go through USTravelDocs. The form, the fee and the appointment steps are all there. Visa links left in FTC's old season announcements do not work. Do not try to go in from there; go straight to USTravelDocs. The link is on the 0.K Resources and printables page.

A letter showing that you are taking part in the event is added to the application. You request this letter from the official source during event registration. The letter supports your application, but on its own it does not bring the appointment forward and does not guarantee the result. The officer looks at the whole file.

After you apply, there are three separate stages. The appointment day, the interview and getting your passport back. The time until the appointment and how many days it takes for the passport to come back change all the time. Read the current values at the time you apply, on USTravelDocs and on the US Department of State's wait times page. After the interview, you will not have your passport for a while, so plan tickets and hotels with that in mind.

Extra documents may be requested for an underage student's application. We do not write here which documents are required; the current list is on USTravelDocs, and the officer may ask for more documents at the interview. The student and their parent should read this list together before applying.

Flights and accommodation

You choose your flight days together with the event schedule. The schedule has a team check-in and setup day, the competition days and the closing. Check that you arrive before setup and leave after the closing. If the robot is traveling with you, or is taken apart to be transported, leave time between arriving and the first test.

The championship may have its own accommodation arrangement, where teams book rooms in hotels chosen by the event. In this arrangement, opening a room block and completing the booking are separate steps. A team that does the first and not the second has no room. The season's arrangement, when it opens and how to pay are announced on the event's official page. The link is on the 0.K Resources and printables page.

Add transport between the airport, the hotel and the competition venue to the schedule too. If the robot and pit equipment are traveling with you, the vehicle you use in the city needs to be big enough for them.

Check the baggage allowance when you buy tickets. If the robot and pit equipment go as baggage, this allowance shapes the transport decision. That decision is in the next section.

Transporting the robot and equipment

The robot is packed so that it survives the trip. The chassis can take knocks, but cables, sensors and parts that stick out cannot. Size and weight decide which way of transporting it is possible, so measure them first.

If some parts will be taken off, you need time on arrival to put them back on and test. You already put this time into the schedule in the previous section. You also need to bring the tools for reassembly. Do not count on borrowing tools in the hall.

Check the carrier's rules for batteries, tools and electronics. The robot's NiMH battery and lithium batteries fall under different rules on a plane. Spare lithium batteries and power banks travel only in the cabin; they do not go in checked baggage. You saw which device uses which battery in the 0.8 Introduction to electronic parts lesson. The current limits are on the FAA PackSafe page and on the airline's own restrictions page. Check both before you fly.

There are two ways to get the robot there. The first is to send it ahead by cargo. The robot does not fly with you, so the baggage limit and the job of carrying it go away. On the other hand, if the box is delayed on the way or at customs, you walk into the hall without a robot and cannot touch it until it arrives. The second is to carry the robot in baggage with the team. The robot stays where you can see it, and you can work on it the day you land. On the other hand, the airline's size and battery rules apply to you, and the job of carrying it falls on the team. We do not write here which one works for you. The event registration lists the options and their conditions, and you make the decision there.

Arriving at the championship venue

You go through team check-in at the hall and find your pit spot. The hall is bigger than a local event and the rows of pits are long, so you need to look at the map to find your own spot.

The first job is to unpack the robot after the trip. Parts that were taken off go back on, the cables are checked and the robot is tested on the practice field. Anything that came loose or broke on the trip shows up here. That is why you put this time into the schedule.

After that, things are familiar. Inspection, the judging interview and the match schedule go the way we explained in the 0.12 Competition day and the pit lesson, so we do not explain them again here.

There are two differences. Teams play split into groups, and the schedule is spread over several days. The season's schedule shows which days your group plays and on which field. You read that schedule on the event's official page. The link is on the 0.K Resources and printables page.

Extras

• Resources and printables
• World championship budget working file. XLSX · HTML · PDF. It has no figures; you fill in the numbers from the season's sources.
• FIRST Championship. The season's event page, with schedule and accommodation announcements.
• FIRST Cost and Registration. The current event fee.
• USTravelDocs for Türkiye. Visa application, fee and appointment.
• US Visitor Visa. The B1/B2 process and document framework.
• Global Visa Wait Times. Appointment wait indicator.
• FAA PackSafe Batteries. Limits for carrying batteries and power banks.
• 0.3 Budget, sponsors and presenting your team
• 0.12 Competition day and the pit