Hi Amir, I found your experience with visa issue very edifying. You can write a study case for this matter. Do not wait for opening centralized place on meta to share what you know about how to get a visa.
Regards, Zana 2017-06-24 14:47 GMT+02:00 Amir Ladsgroup <[email protected]>: > As a person who missed three events because of rejection of visa (one > Wikimania, one Wikimedia Hackathon, one WikiArabia) and missed two other > because couldn't event get an appointment with the embassy (DevSummits) I > want to share my experience here. There is three parties involved in this > case: > > - Participants: > -- If you are going to another country that has strict visa rules, you > should be prepared and know what can go wrong. Usually make a group of > people who are more experienced in Wikimedia events and ask them for help. > This helped me in some events to get visa without trouble. One case I > remember was when the invitation letter was from WMF and not the local > chapter. It caused rejection of visa before me and once I knew it, I fixed > it. > -- Be prepared for other options. For example, for Esino Lario one of my > friends missed the event because he couldn't get appointment with the > embassy, when I knew this is a problem, I tried the German embassy and got > the visa ready in time. (Per Schengen laws, you need to make requests to > the country you will stay the most, so I stayed in Germany for 11 days and > Italy for 8 days to make things legal) > -- If you have an interview to justify your visa, definitely mention > Wikipedia. People don't know what WMF is but all know Wikipedia and have > positive feelings. > -- I know it's hard but let go sometimes: I decided not to go at this > year's Wikimania just because the visa process is horrible and I need to > travel to Turkey at least twice. Even though I know I miss a great event > but let's hope to meet them soon. > > -WMF: > -- I know WMF is busy but I mentioned this several times to legal, > support and safety and some other teams. People like me have problem going > to events and there should be support for them. Two things were always said > and I don't know why it's not being done, 1- Prepare a centralized place > (probably in meta) so people share experience to help newbies to get visa > documents right. I have seen lots of problems in the documents my friends > need to prepare for the visa and helped them to get it right before it gets > rejected but I had to meet them in person and it's an exclusive club of > people I know. I want to open this knowledge to others. > -- The other option I always mentioning is support for getting one > multiple entries visa instead of getting one visa for each event, This is > very true for European events. This would make life of lots of people way > easier. > > Local chapters: > -- When there is a Wikimania, a local chapter will be handling process of > visa for lots of countries with different issues. Sometimes they handle it > perfectly and other problems might be the reason for rejection but > sometimes I need to come back to them and ask for more documents which > increases the chance of rejection or visa not being issued in time. They > usually consult with an immigration lawyer before the process, this needs > to be increased and WMF needs to make sure these consults happen. > > Sorry for the long email. I hope this would be helpful for you. > > Best > > > On Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 1:51 PM Ilario valdelli < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> On 24/06/2017 02:00, Ellie Young wrote: >> >> >> >> On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 2:10 PM, Gabriel Thullen <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> I have a few comments: >>> 1) >>> We do not know how the Montreal venue was selected for Wikimania. >>> Jean-Philippe said: >>> "A "Wikimania Montreal Committee", now defunct, was behind the request >>> to WMF to have Wikimania in Montreal and they did not coordinate with the >>> chapter in doing this." >>> The situation there is obviously more complicated than what is being >>> said so I will not dwell on that. What disturbs me is that the Montreal bid >>> was accepted in absence of the local chapter support. That is not >>> acceptable. Looking back on the success of the Esino Lario event, I believe >>> that strong local chapter and volunteer support is vital for a Wikimania >>> event. >>> >> >> Let us just say that there was confusion and communication issues with >> the original proposers to host. The Steering Committee (including yours >> truly) thought that Wikimedia Canada was involved. I think everyone can >> agree how important it is for having the local chapters involved--- most >> recently Esino Lario and Mexico City and of course South Africa coming up. >> >> >> Hi Ellie, >> This is an interesting point. I know that recently there has been a >> decision to have Wikimania's organization notified two years in advance, >> but this model can only work if there is a "local group" with a mature >> organization. Two years are too many for a local "extemporary" committee. >> >> A chapter (with at least a small staff) is something that can assure a >> commitment for two years and can support efficiently a local group (and >> perhaps to save the organization in case of withdrawal). >> >> Basically the two year model cannot be disconnected from a *mature* local >> organization as a chapter, otherwise the model will not work. >> >> But at this point is also interesting to know how big may be the impact >> on a chapter. The organization of an event like Wikimania is something >> fascinating, but at the same time it's more than a "stress test" for a >> chapter. >> >> Kind regards >> >> -- >> Ilario Valdelli >> Wikimedia CH >> Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens >> Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre >> Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera >> Switzerland - 8008 Zürich >> Tel: +41764821371 <+41%2076%20482%2013%2071>http://www.wikimedia.ch >> >> >> >> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> >> Mail >> priva di virus. www.avast.com >> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> >> <#m_-715280980185801926_m_3850020966839007458_m_-2762511510589227394_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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