Number of countries that can enter a country without visa is not a good measurement for a country being visa-friendly. Let's use your example. Per what you said it seems Israel is a more visa friendly country than Italy which is not correct. It's correct Israel allows more people to visit without visa but 1- For a handful number of countries visiting Israel is not an option at all (like mine which has twenty years in jail when I come back) 2- if we pass that point, they are really difficult on giving visa to Muslim/Arab countries passport holders. 3- The border control is very harsh and can deny entry on strange reasons even with valid visa or passport of a not-visa-needed country. What you just need is to look slightly non-Western and they give you hell in border. It happened in a recent Wikimedia event.

Best

On Mon, Jul 3, 2017 at 2:33 AM Mykola Kozlenko <mycola-k@ukr.net> wrote:

Hi,

For the sake of the discussion on "it's way better in my country", please look what your country's visa policy really is. For instance, check https://www.passportindex.org/byWelcomingRank.php or relative (English) Wikipedia articles. The former gives the following figures:
(Five latest Wikimania hosts)
* Canada: 51 country can enter visa-free, visa on arrival, ETA or equivalent
* Mexico: 67
* UK: 91
* Italy: 93
* Hong Kong: 144
(Some other countries mentioned here)
* Australia: 34
* Thailand: 78
* Israel: 96

Yes, that means that Canada is the least visa-friendly Wikimania host in the last 5 years. And yes, Thailand is less visa-friendly than the UK. And yes, Australia is the least visa-friendly country with an established Wikimedia chapter.

Thus please do refer to facts when qualifying a country as a visa-friendly or not, and not to your own perception of a country's visa policy.

Thanks
Mykola (NickK)

--- Оригінальне повідомлення ---
Від кого: "DaB." <wp@dabpunkt.eu>
Дата: 2 липня 2017, 23:19:44
Hello, Am 02.07.2017 um 13:37 schrieb cs: > a country like Thailand where I live you mean a country which is currently a military dictatorship (for the second time in 10 years)? A country that was THIS close to a open civil war? And if not a civil war, maybe a real war with Cambodia? Visa problems are problematic, but it is 10 times better than to give the Wikimania to an instable country – we are not the FIFA. Sincerely, DaB. -- Benutzerseite: [[:w:de:User:DaB.]] PGP: 0x7CD1E35FD2A3A158 (pka funktioniert)

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