[NCUC-EC] INPUT REQUIRED: FY18 NCPH Intersessional

[Renata Aquino Ribeiro]

Hi

What happened in Reykjavik and it will likely happen again w/ USA is visa denial

I mentioned that in the meeting and got a bit ridiculed as "the crazy
developing countries person"

i remember to be actually capable of counting in 1 hand the amount of
developing countries ppl in Reyjavik: me, Ines, Khalid, Juan and I
don't remember if Jimson was there
There could be more but those are the ones I remember

This to me is directly related also to the image of intersessional
being not relevant

And the cruelty about visa denial is that it actually puts a ban in
your passport for a term twice as long as you would normally take to
reapply for a visa. In some cases, you don't get visa at all ever
again. This is what happened to many Youth LACIGF ppl who were going
to DC in 2016 (Obama times!). For some odd reason some of the N/NE ppl
got a visa ban to the US - for life! imagine getting that as your 20yo
birthday gift.

Border denial is a whole other level. Your passport gets flagged and
you have issues in other borders too. So you have to trail embassies
and get paperwork and always carry the load w/ you. Border denial can
subsequentely be followed w/ visa upon arrival denial and it just
becomes a very horrible situation

Now that I've bored you to death about visas

I do have a visa to the US until 2022.
I've lived in the US for short periods of time in a few years.
I had never had trouble getting in.
But this time, I do not plan to go to Porto Rico or LA yet. Maybe
things change. But so far it's a pass.

Best,

Renata










On Sun, Jul 30, 2017 at 8:13 PM, David Cake <dave at davecake.net> wrote:
>         I think if we have an intersessional, we may as well have it every year, but I am still feeling that the intersessional is not its most effective form. If we are to continue having one, we should think about ways to make it more valuable. More access to senior staff might help with that, make it a meeting where we are able to focus on our relationship with the organisation a bit more?
>
>         I very much understand the visa issues, but I am coming to feel that there is no good solution currently. I have very little desire personally to visit Trumps America, but I do see some sense in the LA idea. Is there anyone that we currently think we would support for attendance (e.g. an EC member, councillor, or other office holder) who would not be able to attend if it was in the USA?
>
>
>         David
>
>
>