My take on this has already been circulated earlier:
http://www.ietf.org/blog/2014/11/getting-visas-to-an-ietf-meeting/
This is really a key problem, and no amount of advice we can give on
how to deal with tickets or improvements at the IETF side will
fundamentally change the fact that we would like attending an IETF
meeting be easier.
For what it is worth, if there was an option to pick another place with
less problems I would immediately recommend doing that. As lovely
as Hawaii is, and as productive as we seem to be in the meeting so
far. However, I’d warn people against jumping to too easy conclusions.
Just a couple of examples of arguments and counter arguments below.
“People should apply for visas sooner.” Yes, but I have colleagues
who make late decisions on submitting proposals and getting involved
in other people’s projects. Forcing people to decide earlier will make it
hard to let more people join. And I made my travel bookings two weeks
ago, because of day job meetings right next to the IETF week didn’t
firm up before that. Other people will have similar issues.
“We should open the invitation process sooner”. We will. But see above.
“We should go to Europe”. But we are meeting in Europe. And based on
all statistics, we are able to get the widest audience when we meet in
major European locations. However, we have a 1-1-1 policy and
rotating around the world will overall make it possible that it easy
for people from various places to attend. I do not want to make
participation hard for North American participants either.
“There is a new proposal in <government X> process and that will
improve things”. Yeah. Maybe. Not holding my breath. But kudos
for everyone who is improving, it will be appreciated.
“There are access problems in all places, they are just different.” This
is true, but it is also true that some places have broader and more
difficult issues than others.
“The fall is a bad time for a difficult visa application, because lots of
students are coming in as well”. Probably true. There may be other
factors as well, however, and, e.g., random changes or issues in
administration may have queue-up effects as well.
“We should meet in Canada or Mexico instead”. We keep meeting
quite often in Canada, and will probably do so more in the future.
But I also get mixed feedback on whether the Canadian visa process
is really easier. I think it probably is, but it is not as clear as some people
may think.
Likely outcome? I predict this: 1) IETF will open invitations process
sooner 2) people have now learned that they need to add buffer to their
visa applications process 3) We will keep rotating through continents 4) we
cannot change the next few meetings 5) we will try to gather more accurate
data about CA-US differences 6) we will avoid the risky visa places for
November meetings 7) for future meetings, we will probably adjust balance
to meeting even more often in Canada, but we will also have some US meetings.
Just my crystal ball, but this seems roughly what we can and should do.
Jari
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