[OSGeo-Discuss] A note regarding Executive Order on Immigration

Tue Jan 31 01:04:57 PST 2017

Dear Guido,

I welcome your address to the community on this matter. Bellow I leave some impressions that I hope to be helpful.

Citizens of the countries targeted in this executive order already faced great ordeals to obtain a Visa to the US. The process requires a multitude of test and checks, and can take somewhere between one and two years. Therefore I find it extremely unlikely for a citizen of the seven banned countries to have applied for Visa specifically to attend FOSS4G.

The critical issue is with double nationality individuals that where so far comprised in Visa waver programmes or other fast-track Visa mechanisms. A good example is Mo Farah, a British athlete born in Somalia that won two gold medals at the Olympics last year. The UK foreign office announced on Sunday that citizens like Mo Farrah were not included in the ban, but yesterday the US embassy in the UK confirmed that indeed Mo Farrah, and any other double nationality individuals from Somalia, were banned from entering the US.

If I may, I would advise you to instruct anyone willing to attend FOSS4G-2017 to seek a Visa right away, in advance to registration and any travel arrangements. Anyone that already has a Visa, should probably contact the local US consulate or embassy and confirm its validity.

Regards and best of luck with the conference.
--
Luís Moreira de Sousa
Im Grund 6
CH-8600 Dübendorf
Switzerland

Phone: +41 (0)79 812 62 65
Email: luis.de.sousa at protonmail.ch
URL: https://sites.google.com/site/luismoreiradesousa

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] A note regarding Executive Order on Immigration
Local Time: 30 January 2017 11:06 PM
UTC Time: 30 January 2017 22:06
From: gstein at appgeo.com
To: discuss at lists.osgeo.org

Dear OSGeo Community,

My name is Guido Stein and I am the co-chair of FOSS4G Boston 2017. I have had the honor of working with the community on this conference as well as meeting many folks in the community at the Bonn event. I have been building spatial community in Boston for over a decade and am have really enjoyed becoming a part of the larger OSGeo community in the last couple of years.

The Boston Local Organizing committee is made up of a diverse group of folks who had from day one planned on making this event as inclusive as we can make possible. We have been very excited about the potential interaction between visiting attendees from all over the globe and our thriving local community of academics, developers, managers, and end users.

I am writing you all today as co-chair of the conference and as a member of the community to address some recent events in the U.S.A.. My team and I would like to let everyone know that we welcome anyone interested in attending the FOSS4G Boston 2017 event. We welcome you with open arms and will do whatever we can to help you get the most out of attending this event.

I know that there is concern and fear about the Exective Order on Immigration and this weekend left many people in shock and awe. I would like to open a dialogue here on the discussion list to let people share with us any of your concerns and let us know what we might be able to do to assist you and others in attending this conference. We do not have all the answers, but we will attempt to address your concerns related to the conference the best we can.

Finally, we do not set policy for OSGeo, FOSS4G (other than our specific event), or the U.S. Government, so please understand that we are a small group of volunteers and are trying to help, but our realm of assistance is limited to this year's FOSS4G and the resource we have access to.

With warm regards,

Guido Stein

Co-Chair FOSS4G Boston 2017

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