I  think  this  another good argument  for  holding  Wikimania in  a country like  Thailand where I  live,  that  has one of the most  open travel  doors in  the world. The nationals of most  countries can arrive here without  any  special  documentation except  of course a valid passport, and stay  for  at  least  two  weeks. All they  might  be asked for  on  arrival  is to  show their return air ticket. 

Kudpung

On 2Jul, 2017, at 17:26, Jonathan Cardy <werespielchequers@gmail.com> wrote:

Sadly not just Canada.

I know the UK keeps the passport of applicants while they process the visa, and Georgians applying for a UK visa will have that processed in Ankara. Though the 8 weeks is slow for a visitor visa, not much chance to attend a funeral with that.

On a more practical note, this is a recurring problem - we certainly had issues in London and I know there have been other venues where there have been problems. Would it be possible to find some venues that are generally open for visitors and rotate Wikimania between them? Or at worst rotate Wikimania between closed and open countries. We are a global movement and if some of us have visa issues it should be are a problem for all of us.



Regards

Jonathan 


On 2 Jul 2017, at 08:13, Mardetanha <mardetanha.wiki@gmail.com> wrote:

​Canadian visas are kinda different from rest of the world, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia and turkey are considered in Visa center in Ankara.
Most Arabic countries are being considered in Amman Jordan. 
some Caucasian are being considered in Moscow
and in Europe most are in VAC office in Paris
​.
so depending on your country of origin your document might be reviewed and sent to other countries, another strange point is throughout the process, they keep your passport, so it means that for unclear time-frame you can not make any travels.



Mardetanha

On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 11:02 AM, Jane Darnell <jane023@gmail.com> wrote:
Wow so sorry to read this, Armine! If the pillars of our community are having their visas "rejected-by-filing-in-Moscow" then this is surely newsworthy? Maybe someone can run a piece on this problem? This case in particular is pretty shocking to me.

On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 8:11 AM, Armine Aghayan <arminehaghayan@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello all,

I am from Armenia and I applid for a temporary Canadian visa on May 8, 2017 from the  Canada visa application centre (CVAC) in Armenia. My documents were transferred from CVAC in Armenia to Embassy of Canada to Moscow on May 15, 2017. On http://www.cic.gc.ca page it says that documents for citizens of Armenia can be viewed within 2 weeks (without transfer time). It's already 8 weeks my documents are under review. Because of this uncertain delay I lost my trip to participate in WikiWomen Camp. On June 12, 2017 I wrote a letter to immagration office to Moscow and have this reply:  Your application  is under review. Processing times can take longer when verifications are needed and no specific time for completion can be confirmed. You will be notified once  a decision is  made.

On May 27, I wrote them telling that scholarship applicatnts visa deadline is near and again got the same answer back. So from May 8 up to now the Canadian Moscow visa office is reviewing my docs.


On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 1:05 AM, Andy Mabbett <andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
On 22 June 2017 at 10:23, Bodhisattwa Mandal
<bodhisattwa.rgkmc@gmail.com> wrote:

> The main topic of discussion among the scholarship recipients from global
> south this month is the high visa rejection rate by Canadian embassies from
> these countries.

Today in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said:

   “Ours is a land of original peoples, and of newcomers. And our
greatest pride is
    that you can come here from anywhere in the world, build a good
life and be part
    of our community. We don’t care where you’re from, or what
religion you practice,
    or whom you love, you are all welcome in Canada!”

   http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/selected-quotes-from-participants-in-the-national-canada-day-celebrations/wcm/14f154e7-9fe4-49f5-9423-fcebad451962

--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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--

Best Regards
Armine Aghayan

Wikipedia Editor
Leading Human Resourses specialist at the 
Ministry of Transport, Communication and Informational Technologies of RA


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