i would have expected two things, slightly more proactive:
1. get it to the embassies beforehand
e.g. write the invitation letter directly to the embassy
2. have a clarification procedure in case of trouble with
the embassy
3. have an escalation path to the travel agency of the foundation
last year wmf was very helpful ... and fully understood
that single voyagers do not have the experience, and
wikimania orgs do not have the capacity especially close
to the start.
maybe it would be possible to make the availability of such service a
major criteria for hosting wikimania? and some 50 year ban to host
wikimania, if a country fails to deliver what was promised -
especially visa and hotel rates ;)
my personal experience with u.s. american embassies is (but only two
of them, one european, one african): there are actually people who
work there, they have phone numbers and email addresses. you can even
visit them. the people i had contact to were exemplary welcoming and
helpful.
rupert.
On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 8:18 PM, Richard Symonds
<[email protected]> wrote:
> I think what James means to say is that the 2012 Wikimania team has no
> special right to know what's going on with visa applications. I'm not sure
> what support they have set up for failed applicants.
>
> In my experience, going through the US Embassy for a visa is expensive and
> time-consuming if you're not from a country with close relations with the
> US. The only recourse is to apply again and hope that you meet the
> requirements. It was difficult (and expensive) enough getting visas sorted
> in London; I can't imagine that the Ghanan embassy is less strict about it
> or any cheaper.
>
> I'm not sure what support or advice the Wikimania team can offer, although
> they have the State Department's E-Diplomacy office as an official partner,
> so they might have some connections there. That would be up to them,
> though.
>
> Richard Symonds
>
>
> On 24 June 2012 18:58, James Hare <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> No.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Jun 24, 2012, at 1:55 PM, rupert THURNER <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > would it be possible that you call the embassy what is going on, to
>> > have something like a "second opinion"? you wrote the letter of
>> > invitation, and have some right to know what happened?
>> >
>> > On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 2:51 AM, James Hare <[email protected]>
>> > wrote:
>> >> The only recourse you have is to apply again, and it may be too late
>> >> to do that now that we're 18 days from the conference.
>> >>
>> >> James
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Jun 23, 2012 at 8:49 PM, rupert THURNER
>> >> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >>> hi,
>> >>>
>> >>> what is the proceeding if somebody from ghana, africa, got the visa
>> >>> for the wikimania denied at the us embassy in accra?
>> >>>
>> >>> rupert.
>> >>>
>> >
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>
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