Here is the full response given by ASE 2019 General Chair Tom Zimmermann, over email, to four specific questions asked by me.
(1) If the primary author (especially a student author) who would like to present their accepted paper cannot attend due to visa-related issues: can they present remotely, regardless of their co-authors’ attendance?
Yes. We would prefer presentation by an attending author but if a primary author feels strongly that they should present, they can do remotely. Note that remotely means:
a. Record a video that we play back for presentation. We do not allow live remote presentation to minimize the risk of technical issues. We do allow live Q&A via Skype. If time zone differences or technical issues prevent a live Q&A, we can collect questions at the end of talks and send to authors for follow-up.
(2) If none of the co-authors of an accepted paper can attend the conference due to visa-related issues, can one of them present remotely?
Yes. We offer authors two options:
a. Record a video that we play back for presentation. We do not allow live remote presentation to minimize the risk of technical issues. We do allow live Q&A via Skype. If time zone differences or technical issues prevent a live Q&A, we can collect questions at the end of talks and send to authors for follow-up.
b. Presentation by a colleague can present (who has to be registered; registrations by the non-attending author can be transferred to the presenting colleague). The colleague does not have to be a co-author. The colleague can collect questions at the end of the talk and send to the authors for follow up.
Presentation by a colleague can present (who has to be registered; registrations by the non-attending author can be transferred to the presenting colleague). The colleague does not have to be a co-author. The colleague can collect questions at the end of the talk and send to the authors for follow up.
(3) If the answer to any of (1) or (2) is Yes, then does the presenter still have to register for the entire conference?
Yes, authors still have to register. For various reasons: (1) Without a registration, we cannot issue visa-support letters, which are needed by most for a visa application. (2) The conference has to commit to food orders, which account for the majority of registration cost and cannot be cancelled by the time an author knows that they will not be attending. (3) To be fair to other authors who travel to the conference to have their paper published.
(4) If the answer to both of (1) or (2) is No, then does the paper get removed from the conference proceedings?
We will not remove any papers because of visa-related issues for papers at the conference. We did remove one paper from the Doctoral Symposium because the student cancelled ahead of time and wanted a refund. The reasoning behind the decision was as follows as shared with the student:
“For the conference we allow video presentation (recorded video and Q&A per Skype) in the cases where authors cannot attend due to visa issues. People who present remotely will still need to register.
For doctoral symposium this is different. The goal of the doctoral symposium is for you to get feedback in person, meet other students, and senior members of the community. Here a remote presentation is less effective. If we publish the paper, you will have a publication but not the intended outcome to connect with the ASE community.
By removing the paper, you have the opportunity to submit the paper to a doctoral symposium at another conference, for example ICSE.”
Note that for ACM conferences, the new ACM policies allow removal of papers because of conference registration/attendance policy only prior to the publication of the proceedings. Most proceedings are published the day of the conference and often two weeks in advance.
ACM Conference Editors have the option to mandate withdrawal of one or more Works accepted and present in their conference proceedings prior to publication of those proceedings if the authors of the Works violate the conference registration/attendance policy, as described in the published Call-for-Papers.
https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/retraction-policy