On 8/16/05, Paweł 'Ausir' Dembowski fallout@lexx.eu.org wrote:
For citizens of (much of) the EU, Australia, and Japan (and a few other places like Singapore and Brunei), there is no need for a visa at all. You just show up and come on in, no problem.
Well, at least people from Poland and Greece do need visas to get into the US.
The visa issues are numerous: 1- how easy is it to get a visa? 2- who can issue the invitations to allow someone to get a visa? 3- how attractive is the country and how much visa fishing will the conference prompt?
1 is, in my opinion, not a problem, as long as we have a strong 2 to issue the invitations. We just have to think about it in advance and make sure all people ask for their visa in advance. Having the Foundation as a recognized charity in the US for example, does make things easier than they would be in a country where getting a visa is difficult *and* we have no legal representation.
3 is... a bummer. We stopped counting the phony applications we had for Wikimania this year three days after we opened registration. The US in that respect will definitely attract lots of people fishing for invitations. *sigh*
This said, in my opinion, neither of the 3 should play too strong a role in having/or not having Wikimania in the US. We just have to be prepared.
Best,
Delphine