Re: On visas also (was: Re: [Debconf-team] US travel warning about Bosnia)
On Mon, 2006-06-19 at 07:11 +0200, Christian Perrier wrote:
> I should mention that the only registered attendant of DC6 who is a
> citizen of India (Guntupalli Karunakar) had a very bad experience of
> UK visas as his one was refused for a *transit* in UK, which finally
> prevented him to attend DC6. I guess there was some lack of
> preparation on his side (he admits it) but this raises the need for a
> very careful preparation of visas for the people who might need
> some. UK seems very keen for issuing visas, at least for some
> originating countries.
>
> I don't doubt that the local team for Edinburgh would be able to help
> solving these issues out. The main point is that one should not leave
> people alone with their visas problems. People who need visas will
> most of the time need very early preparation, invitation letters and
> probably most often, funding in advance.
In the current climate of fear about terrorism, I'm not sure that
transit visas (for the limited number of source countries which require
them) are significantly easier to get than other visas; and I fear that
if we're in a country that requires visas from anyone, there's a chance
some people will have problems, even if everyone's written visa
application is perfect.
We can reduce the number of problems by providing potential attendees
with information on what exactly is being looking for in the visa
process, so what documents to include etc., and save them researching
this information themselves. (Since the UK has a very large number of
visa applications, there is also information and advice available in
each country; applicants should ideally check this themselves; we won't
have people available centrally who can read all the languages in
question.) Whether visa applicants apply by post or over the web, or
are called to an interview, the final factor in officials' minds will be
if they believe the story they have been given. It might be useful for
us to provide a 'fact sheet' about DebConf and about Edinburgh so that
they show some knowledge of their destination if asked.
Out of interest, was Guntupalli rejected by post/web or after an
interview? What were the reasons stated for rejection?
--
Moray
http://www.morayallan.com/
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