Re: DebConf10 to take place in New York City, USA
Jimmy Kaplowitz dijo [Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 02:31:24PM -0500]:
> Martin may have left the wrong impression. We don't have the issues fully
> solved, and of course can no more make guarantees that there won't be visa or
> border hassles than the Mexico local team was able to for DebConf6 (the first
> year where visas became an issue).
Not only, might I add, DC6 was the first time the visas were an issue,
it was the first time also (at least as far as the organizers could
know) that people were left out because of the visa situation. Recall
that, i.e., DC4 (@Brazil) posed a problematic visa issuing situation
-precisely- for USAmericans, as Brazil has this polemic (but IMHO
great) reciprocity system, whereas Mexico appears to have decided to
become a screening door for the USA - We didn't expect the visa
requirements to be an issue at all, and even having all the needed
connections (my wife was at the time speaking on an almost-daily
basis with the Foreign Relations Secretary's personal assistant, and
not even that did the trick) we ended up... With a mess that left some
people in the cold.
But still, that experience showed us quite a bit. And yes, we are now
(I was not involved in DC8, but at least for DC7) receiving some
applications from people clearly looking only for a way to get entry
to a more developed country. And as an organization, DebConf (which
means, Debian) must be careful to check that all visa tramits we
process are _really_ for people interested in working for Debian. (And
going legally back home!)
> Further, we're definitely going to be giving people invitation letters and
> other advice to make sure they present themselves in the best (accurate) light
> they can to the visa or border officials, as well as separate exaggeration from
> fact with regard to border search and other privacy concerns so that people can
> make rational decisions based on reality instead of sensationalism. More
> details will be provided at the DebConf10 presentation in Caceres at DebConf9,
> if not sooner.
One source of confusion in Mexico was that people said at the Mexican
embassy they were travelling "for a conference". Stupid as it might
sound, that meant they were coming "on business", and it was a PITA to
convince the Foreign Relations people that we were _NOT_ for profit,
and neither were any of you. Jimmy, I advise you to triple-check if
that it is the best way to help the visa process, or whether we should
all apply as "tourists-and-nothing-else". After all, quite a bit of
people go as tourists to NY, so nothing fishy there.
--
Gunnar Wolf - gwolf@gwolf.org - (+52-55)5623-0154 / 1451-2244
PGP key 1024D/8BB527AF 2001-10-23
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