An importer is a user with import rights, generally speaking.

On Wikimedia wikis, there are two kinds of importers:

Import is a rarely needed feature; for instance, it's not needed for CC-BY-SA copyright compliance, see Terms of use.

These flags are enabled on all wikis,[3] but can be assigned only by stewards after a request on dedicated page (especially the import flag which includes the importupload right which is particularly dangerous) and only on a temporary basis for a specific task, unless the project has a local process and policy to assign permanent import rights.

Very few projects need and have such a policy, including:

Wikis where bureaucrats (or sysops) can assign import rights

On some wikis local bureaucrats (or sysops) can assign and remove import rights. Their list is in the Table below.

Transwiki
No Wiki Bug Fixed on Notes
1 simplewiki bug 23988 2010-06-16 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats. See also bug 23462
2 nowiki bug 21041 2009-12-17 Assigned by local sysops and removed by bureaucrats.
3 zhwikivoyage bug 60085 2014-01-16 Assigned and removed by sysops. See also bug 61238
4 fawikivoyage bug 71681 2014-10-07 Assigned and removed by sysops.
Transwiki and importer
5 ckbwiki bug 52633 2013-08-11 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
6 frwiktionary bug 23545 2010-05-23 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
7 mediawikiwiki bug 17071 2009-03-16 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
8 checkuserwiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
9 donatewiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
10 foundationwiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
11 noboard_chapterswikimedia ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
12 officewiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
13 ombudsmenwiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
14 otrs_wikiwiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
15 stewardwiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
16 enwikibooks bug 24304and T278683 2010-08-15/2021-04-13 Assigned and removed by local sysops.
Importer
16 arwiki bug 19138 2009-06-29 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
17 incubatorwiki ? 2011-04-06 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
18 bnwiki ? ? Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
19 urwiki bug 19138 2012-12-12 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
20 enwikiversity T294930 2021-11-04 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.
21 dewiki T331921 2023-04-19 Assigned and removed by bureaucrats.

Notes

  1. Besides transwiki importers, the 'import' user right is assigned by default to sysops on all MediaWiki projects (except closed wikis) and to the 'Bots with administrator rights' group in Sorani Wikipedia (see Bug 52578), French Wiktionary, Malayalam Wikipedia, Malayalam Wikisource and Malayalam Wiktionary; and groups with 'editinterface' right in Hebrew Wikipedia.
  2. On Sorani Wikipedia (bug 52633), German Wikiquote, German Wiktionary, Hebrew Wikivoyage and English Wikibooks, sysops have importupload rights; on Sorani Wikipedia, the 'Bots with administrator rights' group have importupload rights.
  3. Although transwiki import may require requesting wiki configuration changes to enable import from the wiki you're interested in (import source).