MySQL developer denied Australian visa

Australian immigration authorities have denied a business visa to a Sun MySQL developer travelling to Australia to attend Linux.conf.au in Hobart.

The move was reported by Kaj Arno, vice president of community for MySQL at parent Sun, who initially said in his blog that in "two instances" Sun developers had been unable to enter Australia due to visa problems. It emerged afterward that only one of those two was denied entry; the other did not attempt to enter Australia.

Despite speculation that the Sun employees were denied entry into Australia because they were seen to be unfairly competing with local business, Australian immigration authorities have not released any information on why the visa was rejected, saying that it would be inappropriate to discuss specific individual cases due to privacy concerns.

Linux.conf.au, an annual Australian open-source developers' conference, will be held next week from Monday through to Friday at the University of Tasmania.