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.
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