Visa

 

Visa

France is part of the Schengen area, so getting to it is open to all Europeans without any visa. Foreigners can find more information about the visa process and related details on france-visas.gouv.fr.

Invitation Letters

The OpenStreetMap Foundation, which organises the international State of the Map 2026 (SotM) conference together with OpenStreetMap France, can provide invitation letters for Visa applications or work purposes to community members who have a conference ticket or have pre-ordered their tickets. Please see the information below on how to pre-order your ticket, if the ticket platform has not opened yet.

If you don’t require an invitation letter, please do not pre-order your ticket and wait for the ticket platform to open - this is planned for June 2026. Thank you.

This page will get updated once the ticket platform opens.

Pre-ordering your State of the Map 2026 ticket for invitation letter or work purposes

The early bird ticket prices are:

  • EUR 82 (70 GBP) for the community early bird ticket
  • EUR 255 (220 GBP) for the regular early bird ticket

On ticket prices

These early bird prices are discounted and valid before the ticket platform opening, until some time after the opening, when the regular prices will take effect. Pre-ordering your ticket for invitation letter purposes before the ticket platform opens is going to ensure that you will get the cheapest ticket.

Which ticket price to pay

  • Regular early bird - If you are attending the conference as a company representative, please pay the regular early bird ticket price, EUR 255.
  • If you are attending as a community member, please pay the community early bird price, EUR 82.
Exceptions

You do not have to pre-order your ticket if you need an invitation letter and,

  • You received a SotM 2026 travel grant from the OpenStreetMap Foundation. Your ticket is included in the travel grant.
  • Your employer is a SotM 2026 sponsor and has confirmed to the OpenStreetMap Foundation (dorothea+sotm2026@osmfoundation.org) that they will provide you with a complimentary conference ticket which they will receive with their sponsorship.
  • You are a SotM 2026 volunteer and the State of the Map organising committee of the OpenStreetMap Foundation has confirmed to the OpenStreetMap Foundation (dorothea+sotm2026@osmfoundation.org) that they will provide a free ticket.

In all of these cases, please see the section below “How to request your invitation letter”.

How to pre-order your SotM 2026 ticket

  1. Please visit the page https://supporting.openstreetmap.org/donate/
  2. Select “Other amount” and type either,
    • EUR 82 for one community early bird ticket. Then proceed to type your OSM username. Or,
    • EUR 255 for one regular early bird ticket. Then select “I want to contribute on behalf of an organisation” and provide the requested information.
  3. Important: In the “message” field type: “SotM 2026 ticket pre-order for invitation letter purposes”.
  4. Important: Select “List my name on the public donor list.” This will allow us to easily confirm your payment.
  5. Press “contribute”.
  6. Select your payment method. You can pay with a bank card, with a PayPal account or by bank transfer.

How to request your invitation letter

After pre-ordering your ticket, please email the OpenStreetMap Foundation:

Recipient: dorothea+sotm2026@osmfoundation.org
Proposed email subject: SotM 2026 invitation letter request - Full name, with the SURNAME(S) IN CAPITAL letters please.
Important: Kindly provide,

  1. Confirmation that you have pre-ordered your ticket
  2. Date of the ticket pre-order in YYYY-MM-DD format
  3. The type of payment method you used: bank card/PayPal account/bank transfer
  4. If you paid with a bank transfer: The name of the bank account owner.
  5. Full name, as it appears on your passport, with the SURNAME(S) IN CAPITAL letters please
  6. Residential address, including country
  7. Date of birth in YYYY-MM-DD format (optional, but it might help)
  8. Passport number (optional, but it might help)
  9. Profession, if applicable (optional, but it might help)
  10. Work address, including country, if applicable (optional, but it might help)
  11. Title of accepted SotM 2026 talk/workshop, if applicable
  12. Name and full address (including country) of embassy/consulate where the Visa application will be made. Or full address (including country) of the company/University office which requested the invitation letter.

When you are going to get your digital invitation letter

Please note that once your have provided your details and have received confirmation, you will receive the letter up to 1-2 weeks (typically earlier) in electronic format.

We typically do not provide invitation letters in paper with wet signatures.

Frequently asked questions

What if they reject my Visa application or I cannot attend the conference?

We will reimburse the cost of the ticket that you have pre-ordered. Please note that we cannot reimburse any bank/PayPal/service fees. To request a reimbursement, please email us:

Recipient: dorothea+sotm2026@osmfoundation.org
Proposed email subject: SotM 2026 pre-order reimbursement - Full name, with SURNAME(S) IN CAPITAL LETTERS please.
Important: Please send,

  • Your full name, as it appears on your passport, with your surname in capital letters please.
  • The payment method you used: bank card/PayPal account/bank transfer.
  • The date of the ticket pre-order - it will be in the email where you requested the invitation letter.

On reimbursement
Kindly note that once we have all the details, reimbursement from our side can typically take up to two months. We cannot provide an estimate on when the reimbursed amount will reach you, as it also depends on the processing time of your bank and/or PayPal.

How will I get the pre-ordered SotM 2026 ticket and ticket receipt?

SotM 2026 tickets and ticket receipts for pre-orders will be provided via the SotM 2026 ticketing platform when it opens - planned for June 2026. Once the ticketing platform opens, we will email you with a code that you can use, in order to register and receive your pre-ordered ticket, order ID and receipt.

Please use the same email address for the ticket platform registration, as the one you used to request the invitation letter.

If you have issues getting the receipt via the ticketing platform, let us know:

Recipient: dorothea+sotm2026@osmfoundation.org
Proposed email subject: SotM 2026 ticket receipt - Full name, with SURNAME(S) IN CAPITAL letters please.

Can I get an invoice?

Yes. Invoices will be provided once the SotM 2026 ticketing platform opens - planned for June 2026. When that happens, we will email you with a code that you can use in order to register and receive your pre-ordered ticket, order ID and invoice.

Please use the same email address for the ticket platform registration, as the one you used to request the invitation letter. If you have issues getting the invoice via the ticketing platform, let us know:

Recipient: dorothea+sotm2026@osmfoundation.org
Proposed email subject: SotM 2026 invoice - Full name, with SURNAME(S) IN CAPITAL LETTERS please.
Important: Please send,

  • your ticket order number.
  • company name, if not provided during the registration on the ticket platform.
  • company address, if not provided during the registration on the ticket platform.

Please email Dorothea at dorothea+sotm2026@osmfoundation.org.
Proposed email subject: SotM 2026 question regarding invitation letter process - Full name, with SURNAME(S) IN CAPITAL letters please.

Please email the volunteers of the State of the Map 2026 organising committee at sotm@openstreetmap.org.
Proposed email subject: SotM 2026 question - Full name, with SURNAME(S) IN CAPITAL LETTERS please.

Kindly note that all conference organising committee members are volunteers, organising the conference during the limited personal time, and that they live in different time-zones. Therefore, there might be some delays in getting an answer.

We hope to see you at SotM 2026!