Writing as a Canadian, I can only apologize for the difficulty so many of you are having in obtaining visas to this country.  I am really looking forward to welcoming many of you to the beautiful city of Montreal, and I am devastated to read that so many people seem to be being turned down for visas. 

The decisions for locations for Wikimania are made about two years in advance - which is actually pretty late for large international conferences (most international organizations make these decisions 3-4 years in advance).  But even during the course of two years, some circumstances can change significantly.  I am aware that Canada has become more stringent in handing out visas, as have many other countries in the past 2 years - something that couldn't really be anticipated at the time the decision was made.  I don't have any good advice for any of you on this - while I live in Canada, I'm not a member of either the Wikimania planning group or Wikimania Canada, and I have no contacts in the federal government that would be helpful in getting visas. 

I am hoping that some magic can happen for you that will enable you to come to Canada.  We will all be losing the value of your company, and you will be missed. 

Risker/Anne

On 23 June 2017 at 21:28, Kerry Raymond <kerry.raymond@gmail.com> wrote:

So an organisation P in country Q writes a letter of support to country R to grant a visa to person S from country T on the basis that organization P thinks that person S is actually the pseudonymous user U?

I am not surprised immigration officials don't find this an entirely compelling reason to grant a visa. WMF is not a Canadian organization, and it is not clear to me that WMF is actually in a position to confirm the real life identity of the user they want to attend in any case.

Kerry 

Sent from my iPad

On 24 Jun 2017, at 12:19 am, Jean-Philippe Béland <jpbeland@wikimedia.ca> wrote:

As per WMF directions, Wikimedia Canada was not involved in anything in relations to visas. The WMF is taking care of that themselves. They did not ask us to write anything to embassies.

I am sorry that Canada has strict rules on visa requirements for a lot of countries.

Jean-Philippe Béland

Vice President, Wikimedia Canada

User:Amqui

On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 11:03 PM, Ranjith S <ranjith.sajeev@gmail.com> wrote:

My visa is also got rejected. So I am not coming to Canada this year. I think Canada is a bad place for Wikimania due to their strict rules. And thinking that is not a tourist friendly country. 

On 23-Jun-2017 12:52 AM, "Jayanta Nath" <jayantanth@gmail.com> wrote:

I think Wikimedia Canada not send any intimation to their Embassy of respective countries.

Jayanta Nath

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	535 avenue Viger Est, Montréal (Québec)  H2L 2P3,jpbeland@wikimedia.ca

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