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Re: [guadec-list] Foundation financial info

Calling the Spanish/UK embassy/ies in Peru will probably save you a
lot of hassle and doubts. They only want to provide visas to citizens
not cheating to them. A Spanish/British citizen organizing an event
and telling them what's going on helps a lot.

The way it work in the successful cases last year was:

- The participant needing the visa calls/visits the embassy in their
own country asking for and providing details. Explaining the situation
they usually get the specific information they need.

- Normally the embassy wants an invitation letter faxed from the event
organizers (there was a template available from last year). It looks
to me that the more demanding documents (i.e. proof of income) can be
surpassed or converted to a signed letter with a call from the
organizers explaining the situation.

- Time is an important issue, you better do these steps right away.

But never forget: at the end is a matter of providing the trust needed
to get a stamp.

Good luck!

Quim


On 6/10/07, Diego Escalante Urrelo <diegoe gnome org> wrote:

On 6/9/07, Sara Khalatbari <saracomput gmail com> wrote:
> Hi again Diego
>
> As far as I know the invitation letter to visit the UK can be from a person
> or a company. I 'GUESS' that you would need to show bank statements/pay
> cheques/etc in case you are invited by a person & these would not be
> necessary in case you are invited by an organization.
>
No, sadly I have to proof the economic ways of the $whoever is
inviting me, no matter it's an organization or a person.

>
> So I suggest that you email the embassy, tell them that you are going for a
> conference and ask if they require such a  letter or just the invitation
> letter would be enough.
>
Yeah I thought about that some weeks ago when I read about the
requisites, they kindly pointed me to their web site. Basically they
doesn't care.

> In case you are sure you would need one, hopefully the gnome-uk will be able
> to adjust you a letter soon. You can also try giving them a draft of the
> letter you think would be enough.
>
I put a request for an invitation letter on guadec.org. One like the
PDF you attached is more than enough for the invitation part.
The financial statements are a separate thing.

> It would also be very effective in the visa procedure if some one from
> guadec committee in UK calls the embassy and talk to them about your case.
>
That's a great idea Sara, the phone number I have is one of those
"press 1 for info on..." phone centrals, no matter they say they take
calls from 2pm to 5pm, they never give another number or an option to
get a real person.
I'll try to get another number, I have the impression that they won't
give me a positive answer if I tell them about this.
However, I don't think calling anyway would be bad.

I'll let you know.

> See you in GUADEC,
> Sara
>
>
>  On 6/8/07, Diego Escalante Urrelo <diegoe gnome org> wrote:
> >
> > Hey Thomas
> >
> > On 6/8/07, Thomas Wood <thos gnome org> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Diego,
> > >
> > > Your sponsorship to GUADEC is being paid for by GUADEC-UK, rather than
> > > the foundation. GUADEC-UK is oraganising Guadec 2007 on behalf of the
> > > GNOME Foundation. We have separate accounts to make the logistics
> > > easier and as such GUADEC-UK has not had a bank account for very long.
> > >
> > Hmmm, maybe we can show some kind of proof or receipt that shows that
> > GUADEC-UK is a "local branch" of the Foundation?. I mean, just to give
> > the existence of GUADEC-UK "support". A simple letter from the
> > Foundation acknowledging the existence and purpose of GUADEC-UK would
> > be fine I think.
> >
> > I think that if GUADEC-UK financial state has nice numbers (read: more
> > than two pennies), there shouldn't be a problem.
> >
> > > I'm fairly sure this is going to make things even more difficult for
> > > you, but perhaps you can suggest what we could arrange so that you are
> > > able to get a visa quickly and efficiently?
> > >
> > I'll double-check that this doesn't make things more complicated. But
> > I think it would only be needed to proof that GUADEC-UK is funded to
> > some extent by the Foundation.
> >
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > >
> > > Thomas
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, 8 Jun 2007 08:26:22 -0500
> > > "Diego Escalante Urrelo" <diegoe gnome org> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hey Rodrigo, Sara, Jaime!
> > > >
> > > > I'm sad to say it but, I think you have never invited a peruvian to go
> > > > outside of his/her country :(. It's hell.
> > > >
> > > > But let's be rational. You can see (in spanish) requisites for visas
> > > > for UK and Spain:
> > > >
> > > >
> http://www.mae.es/Consulados/Lima/es/MenuPpal/Visados/Visado+de+Turismo/
> > > >
> http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1136904295400
> > > >
> > > > Note that Spain doesn't say it clearly but you can take my word that
> > > > it's a requisite.
> > > > In the case of UK you can read:
> > > >
> > > > "Si es otra persona quien cubre los gastos debe proporcionarle, además
> > > > de los estados de cuenta bancarios y boletas de pago de sueldo, una
> > > > carta de responsabilidad por sus gastos..."
> > > >
> > > > Which for our English speaking friends basically means something like:
> > > >
> > > > "If someone else is taking care of your expenses he/she should provide
> > > > bank account states, pay checks and a letter of responsibility for
> > > > your expenses"
> > > >
> > > > Rodrigo, sadly for naturals of my country it's not easy to be trusted
> > > > so easily.
> > > >
> > > > Sara, I'm moving the thread to guadec-list as you suggest. The PDF you
> > > > attached me is great! I was going to ask for one with almost exactly
> > > > those details. Still, as I just explained, I have to give the
> > > > financial info.
> > > >
> > > > Jaime, yes I'm going to GUADEC-es too!. arturogf on #gnome-hispano was
> > > > kind enough to offer me the same. I'll be contacting you soon.
> > > >
> > > > And to everyone, just to clarify what's the intention of the financial
> > > > thing. As Sara said, the thing is to convince the embassies that the
> > > > guests will not have financial problems while on UK/wherever. In that
> > > > context, I just need financial info that proofs that the GNOME
> > > > foundation is a wealthy organization, enough to _really_ pay for my
> > > > trip and that it's not just an invention of me and my UK friends.
> > > > Yes, yes, I also think it's silly but this is how things are for
> > > > me :(.
> > > >
> > > > So to resume, what I need is a trustful report that tells the embassy
> > > > (in numbers):
> > > >
> > > > 1. GNOME Foundation is wealthy enough to pay my expenses
> > > > 2. GNOME Foundation actually exists and $someone-not-me knows about it
> > > >
> > > > I was suggested that a printed report of the IRS (the "Internal
> > > > Revenue System" of the US) would be enough. I understand that the
> > > > Foundation is US based (?).
> > > > If not, a report from $country's-IRS-equivalent would be enough. I
> > > > repeat, I don't need to tell the embassy how much money is in
> > > > Foundation's bank account. I only need to proof that it moves money,
> > > > and the taxes and info reported to the $country state as a non-profit
> > > > would be enough.
> > > >
> > > > Maybe this time I was clearer?.
> > > > Just to _really_ stress this out: It's not easy for me to get out of
> > > > Perú, sadly naturals from my country are not well seen by other govs.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks everyone for your replies and will to help, I really
> > > > appreciate it.
> > > >
> > > > Hope to see you at GUADEC!,
> > > >
> > > > Diego
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > guadec-list mailing list
> > guadec-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/guadec-list
> >
>
>
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--
Quim Gil /// http://desdeamericaconamor.org
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