On 24 June 2012 20:15, rupert THURNER <rupert.thurner(a)gmail.com> wrote:
i would have expected two things, slightly more
proactive:
1. get it to the embassies beforehand
e.g. write the invitation letter directly to the embassy
2. have a clarification procedure in case of trouble with
the embassy
3. have an escalation path to the travel agency of the foundation
last year wmf was very helpful ... and fully understood
that single voyagers do not have the experience, and
wikimania orgs do not have the capacity especially close
to the start.
maybe it would be possible to make the availability of such service a
major criteria for hosting wikimania? and some 50 year ban to host
wikimania, if a country fails to deliver what was promised -
especially visa and hotel rates ;)
my personal experience with u.s. american embassies is (but only two
of them, one european, one african): there are actually people who
work there, they have phone numbers and email addresses. you can even
visit them. the people i had contact to were exemplary welcoming and
helpful.
If the embassy says "no", then the answer is "no". There isn't
really
anything anyone can do about it. If the embassy gave a reason for the
rejection, then fix it and try again. If they didn't (and won't give a
reason when contacted), then there's really nothing you can do.
The organisers sent letters of invitation. That's really all they can
do, since the visa is issued by the embassy to the individual and the
Wikimania team aren't a party to any of that. There also isn't much
the Wikimania team can do about any of the common reasons for a visa
being rejected. They can confirm that the event is really happening
and that the person really has said they plan to go to it (that's what
the letter of invitation is for), but they can't do anything to help
prove you're not going to do anything illegal while in the country or
that you're going to go home afterwards. They have no control over
those things and, in the majority of cases, they don't know the
individual well enough to vouch for them (if such a vouching would
actually help, which I'm not sure it would). It is up to the applicant
to convince the embassy of those things because the applicant is the
only person that can.