Re: [ericas] Stuck getting visas for IETF meetings

[Fernando Gont <[e-mail]>]

On 04/30/2013 06:28 AM, Carsten Bormann wrote:
> 
> There is not much we can do about the visa complexity at the IETF level.
> 
> But we can do two things:
> 
> -- collect information about relative levels of complexities exhibited
>    by different venues.  Right now I would guess (but don't know) that
>    it is easier for many to go to Canada than to the US.  

That's mostly a myth, I would say. In the same way that quite a few
times the folks at the Canadian border have been much less polite (if
you know what I mean) than at the US border.

Another related topic that might be of interest:
When granted a US visa, the US immigration office does not care about
the expiration date of your passport: hence you may be granted a 10-year
visa for 5-year passport (once the passport has expired, you just bring
the old passport (with the visa) with the new passport, and that's it).

However, at least in the Canadian Embassy in Buenos Aires, they will not
grant you a Canadian visa for longer than your passport's expiration
date. Which means that if your passport expires in, say, one year, your
Canadian visa will have to expire at the same time.
i.e., it is not possible to "bring the old passport with the visa,
together with the new passport". This means that you will have to renew
your visa much more frequently.

Cheers,
-- 
Fernando Gont
SI6 Networks
e-mail: [e-mail]
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