[FOSDEM] visas and invitation letters

[Hennes Passmann]

On 21-Dec-15 6:08 PM, Jo wrote:
> Even though the term invitation letter sounds simple enough, it's a bit 
> more complicated than that.
> 
> What your doing is getting into a legal contract between 
> yourself/company and the Belgian ministry of the interior. You agree to 
> be liable for all expenses in case this person doesn't leave 
> Belgium/Schengen zone as foreseen. In case of a forced expulsion this is 
> thousands of euros.
> 
> I would also be very surprised if it's still possible to accomplish all 
> the needed paperwork in one month. It involves going to the 
> municipality, they need to contact the ministry of the interior and they 
> in turn need to contact the embassy of the country, back and forth. The 
> person also needs to present themselves at this embassy, at least twice. 
> The process usually takes 3 - 8 months.

It still would be nice to get examples of standard letters for this as well
as well researched related consequences into a FAQ. Worst case it will only
be useful for FOSDEMs after the upcoming one.
 
> Anyway it's not something you'd do for any random person either. A lot 
> of trust is involved.
> 
> Jo

-- 
Hennes