Singapore is the fastest place to get the mediation visa. At some point, it was the only place to get one. That's where Chanmyay Sayadaw told me to go, saying that it only take a few days to get the visa.
If you really want to go to Myanmar, i suggest that you go on a 1 month tourist visa first. You are not allowed to visit the country when on a meditation visa and must spend your time at the center sponsoring you. Myanmar is fantastic to visit. I love the people there. Just walk the line if you don't want any issues with the government (a lesson I learned the hard way).
Are you a dark night yogi in spiritual emergency? Daniel talk about this in one of its video. Folks that sell their house to flight to Myanmar... if only I knew about this syndrome before! I was imagining the western meditation centers as too commercial (and expensive!), too oriented on psychology and leaving the philosophy behind. I worried that I would end up surrounded by soccer moms dressed in new age outfit. I wanted to escape society. Still, I wasn't a mature enough yogi and disciplined enough to survive mentally in a pure burmese buddhism environment.
the teacher is more important than the center. Monks are generally attached to one peculiar school of thought and one peculiar technique: the one that worked for them.
It took 2 months after I wrote to Pa Auk to get an answer (I don't know if the sponsorship letter made it to Canada, I just got a confirmation e-mail). I decided not to go to their center after getting negatives feedback. I found Pa Auk books hard to read. They don't introduce you to vipassana before you reach the 4th concentration jana which is debatable.
