On Tue, Jun 28, 2022 at 1:53 AM Stefano Rivera <stefa...@debian.org> wrote: > > Hi Daniel (2022.06.27_15:57:52_+0000) > > I think covering travel Visa fees makes a lot of sense. > > +1 > > > Thus I suggest a maximum fee for any Visa related activities, e.g. a default > > of USD 200, adjusted to inflation and (if necessary) relative Visa-cost > > insanity of DebConf hosting countries*. Because sometimes travel is required > > to just get a Visa, e.g. going to a larger city to apply in person. Of > > course - as with all our reimbursement - only the actual cost can be claimed > > with receipts. > > That sounds sensible. I'd go one step further and say that any > visa-related travel costs shouldn't be automatically covered, but > require the sign-off of the visa team (for debconf, or DPL otherwise). > > In the case of Indian visas this year, it took the local team a few > weeks of effort to find a better solution than travel to Istanbul for > the Indian attendees. I think we want the pressure to be on for visa > team to try to make something like that happen. > > I'd also suggest that the bursaries team publish a clearer list of what > is and isn't acceptable for travel reimbursement (e.g. taxis, travel > hotels). >
I think Debian should help cover VISA expenses and I support Stefano's suggestions. Perhaps we can cover direct VISA fees by default and handle other costs (i.e. travel, express delivery, etc) on a case by case basis. VISA fees are usually already a significant part of costs and having it covered could help a lot, like Schengen VISA usually costs 80 EUR and US VISA costs 160 USD. Regards, Aron
