The present invention relates to the accreditation of participants to an event. Participants are invited to register, allowing an accreditation system (300) to collect information (325 and 320) from each of the participants. The accreditation system produces a non-valid pass for each of the participants, and the non-valid passes are issued to the participants. Upon arrival of a participant at, or proximate an event venue, the non-valid pass is validated. The validated pass typically serves as an identification and access control device to be worn by participants. Additionally, for foreign participants and before arrival of those participants, the accreditation system (300) sends a bulk visa request to an Immigration Authority (310), allowing the validated pass to serve as a visa.