Elsa Saade as temp alternate to Arsene on GNSO Council

[farzaneh badii]

We have been discussing this for a long time, past couple of years. ICANN
has improved upon its processes, we asked them to give us the invitation
sooner etc.

I am a devoted advocate of holding ICANN meetings in visa friendly
countries. This doesn't mean necessarily not requiring visas all but it
means they have stable visa rules (it won't change overnight), the visa
rules are more or less the same in most countries. Has embassies in most
places.

 countries that have stable visa rules, that cover many countries etc. When
ICANN asked for comments on venue choice, I believe we made some comments
with regards to the country being visa friendly.


in 2016, I had an informal working party that came up with this document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bKGEtdLkwAyPTcPtR9WqzH2wmW-pZmhhZfUWgejeKEU/edit

You can continue working on it.

Also remember that getting a visa is hard work. You need to spend a lot of
time to gather information (even when the visa services provided by ICANN
provide you with info, you need to double check) otherwise you will face
visa issues. For example, the rule that if you have a US visa you can go to
Panama has a duration Caveat written on their webiste:
http://www.embassyofpanama.org/inmigration-and-visas/ It is very important
to check these rules.

You need to always check multiple reliable sources, specifically the
"official" website of the embassies in order to find out the rules and
conditions. Yes, not fair, yes time consuming. But it is a price we pay
unfortunately for "having been born in one country and not the other", in
other words, price we pay for something we had no control over!

One last word, reactions to these issues, unfortunately, have been
impulsive. We just get upset we say we have to fix this and then when it
comes the right moment to fix it (when ICANN asks for comments for example)
no one really comments. While I do criticize ICANN for being sometimes
insensitive regarding visa issues, we have seen a lot of improvement, I
also think the community should also be more active.

Best





Farzaneh


On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 7:22 PM Remmy Nweke <remmyn at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Elsa
> Country names and description of incidents will be fine ask long as we
> keep victims off except where express authorisation is given.
>
> Although this subject is in public domain already and it's not criminal, I
> don't think it has consequence for another attempt, all we need do is to
> learn from this experience and conditions.
>
> For instance you don't expect VOA - VISA ON ARRIVAL, if your country don't
> have that relationship with intended country of visit. Any country without
> embassy has a consulate nearby they work with.
>
> Also ICANN travel have to be on top of the game to offer the most current
> advice.
>
> Regards
> Remmy
>
> On Mon, 25 Jun 2018 17:29 Elsa S, <elsa.saade at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Definitely Renata! I think we don’t need to mention names. The reason why
>> I suggested collecting country names and visa issues is only for us to put
>> together maybe a statement with suggested requirements for ICANN to take
>> into consideration when deciding on the next meeting location.
>>
>> Let me know if you think it’s a good idea and we could initiate something!
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Elsa
>> —
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 5:24 PM dorothy g <dgdorothydg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Good point Renata, we can focus on the immigration processes and steps
>>> taken to facilitate acess to the ICANN meeting.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 10:17 PM, Sonia H. <s.sonia.h at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> That seems to be a very crucial point thank you for raising Renata. I
>>>> also support the idea to keep pushing this and will be happy to help
>>>> however it may be needed.
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> Su Sonia Herring
>>>>
>>>> On 25 Jun 2018 Mon at 17:11 Renata Aquino Ribeiro <raquino at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I agree w/ complaining about the visa restrictions, documents number
>>>>> of people turned down and countries of origin
>>>>>
>>>>> But please please please
>>>>>
>>>>> Don't expose people's names
>>>>>
>>>>> Some visa databases are interconnected (Puerto Rico, Panama and USA
>>>>> for instance) and a simple research online can show when someone has
>>>>> been denied visa in each of these meetings and may hinder their 2nd
>>>>> attempt
>>>>>
>>>>> Best,
>>>>>
>>>>> Renata
>>>>>
>>>>
>>> --
>> --
>>
>> Elsa Saade
>> Consultant
>> Gulf Centre for Human Rights
>> Twitter: @Elsa_Saade
>>
>
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