It is easy to conclude the location hinders visa application acceptance. As much as it appears to be so, I strongly believe if there&#39;s good enough Visa support and assistance from the Wikimania Team/WMF, rejected cases could be low.<div><br></div><div>Obviously, an applicant should have documents intact and good, and submit all the necessary details the embassy wants, including the invitation letter. However, in some countries, that ain&#39;t enough.</div><div><br></div><div>In 2012, the invitation letter I submitted to the consular at the US embassy here in Ghana, she didn&#39;t read, and I could see from her face how nonsense it looked to her. Heck, anybody anywhere could conjure such a sheet of paper with black ink on, any time any day. Plus, the consular had NO idea what Wikimedia was. There was no way I could explain what Wikimedia is in the few seconds I had in front of the teller-like counter. </div><div><br></div><div>Wiki? WikiLeaks? Duh!</div><div><br></div><div>As much a mere letter of invitation is formal to some extent, to what extent is the WMF also willing to support visa applications outside just the letter?</div><div><br></div><div>Not saying WMF should do exactly same, but I know other organizations that pick up the phone, and call the local embassy of the invitee way ahead of time to initialize conversations and to explain to *what extent* whoever they&#39;ve invited fits in the about-to-happen event. </div><div><br></div><div>The embassy in many cases, asks questions they won&#39;t otherwise ask the applicant, but would, to the inviting organization.</div><div><br></div><div>This visa issue, until the WMF *truly assist*, some countries will still struggle getting accepted visa. </div><div><br></div><div>It is not easy, and it ain&#39;t something just a letter wipes away. </div><div><br></div><div>rex</div><div><br></div><div>PS: I know cases where rejected visa are reconsidered and approved just because the inviting organization literally stepped in, and got serious with the embassy.</div><div><div><br>On Thursday, June 22, 2017, Bodhisattwa Mandal &lt;<a href="mailto:bodhisattwa.rgkmc@gmail.com">bodhisattwa.rgkmc@gmail.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><p dir="ltr">Hi,</p>
<p dir="ltr">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.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This year, we had 7 scholarship recipients from Bengali community, 4 from India and 3 from Bangladesh. Already 3 out of 4 scholarship recipients from Indian part of the communities got their visa rejected, others are waiting. Although I am hoping for the best for all the scholarship recipients, but may be news of more rejections are coming soon. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Wikimania should be organised in a visa friendly country, and not in those countries where global south citizens are not allowed to enter even for a 6-days conference. Otherwise, a global community is not truly presented. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Best wishes,<br>
Bodhisattwa</p>
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