Re: PostgreSQL Anniversary Summit, Call for Contributions

It's still not easy to come from Russia to Canada. I have to convince
officer in canadian embassy that

1) I have enough money for living in Canada
2) I don't want to immigrate
3) I'm a loyal citizen

Invitation from conference commitee could help me to get an official letter
from my institute to embassy (1,2). But we still have 3)
I should get references for all members of my family from our police 
department that we're not criminals :) There is no united database, so I 
should get references from all places I live ! This is awful and I'm about
to  give up, even if I'd be able to afford tickets.
    Oleg

On Sat, 11 Mar 2006, Christopher Browne wrote:

> Quoth scrappy@postgresql.org ("Marc G. Fournier"):
>> Just curious, but how do ppl come to Canada as tourists from other
>> countries?  I don't imagine they need to be "invited" by a Canadian,
>> do they?
>
> Well, the "invitation" thing doesn't apply at all to people from North
> America or Western Europe; it's generally just applicable to those
> coming from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America.
>
> Much of those regions represent "developing countries," where the
> notion of "middle class" is emerging as opposed to being a mature
> thing.
>
> Absent of "middle class," you generally have the other two ends,
> namely lower-lower class, who can't conceivably afford to be
> "tourists," and "upper class," who can certainly arrange invitations
> (if not diplomatic status :-) !).
>
> In my lifetime, the world has quite changed.  Thirty years ago, the
> only way Russians would be coming to Canada would be under pretty
> strict scrutiny of the apparatus of the former Soviet Union, which
> would definitely elicit suspicion.  Either you'd be of
> governmental/diplomatic status, an athlete/performer, or, well, quite
> likely you're an undeclared spy...
>
> It's quite an enormous change for relatively ordinary people (well, if
> they're working on PostgreSQL, they've got to be at least a little
> extraordinary! ;-)) to be "just visiting" from such places.
>
    Regards,        Oleg
_____________________________________________________________
Oleg Bartunov, Research Scientist, Head of AstroNet (www.astronet.ru),
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow University, Russia
Internet: oleg@sai.msu.su, http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/
phone: +007(495)939-16-83, +007(495)939-23-83