Well, We know that the Oslo and Stockholm is reasonably quick on visas and have the venues. I think that what is asked for is that ease of getting a visa should be included as one criteria of the same importance as the geography. /Loa Sent from my iPhone > On 27 okt 2014, at 12:51, Ole Jacobsen <olejacobsen@xxxxxx> wrote: > > > Dave, > >> All agreed, but we currently pick locations based on geographic >> locality to participants - maybe picking them based on visa >> availability for participants might be more useful? >> >> Dave. >> > > As Yaov says, this really depends on "participants." Malaysia would be > a great location for an IETF meeting (cheap, well-connected by air, > etc), but Yaov would have some real challenges in getting a visa, it > would be possible, but require special procedures. > > And "visa availability" is sadly a highly dynamic and unpredictable > variable. We had one IETF meeting a couple of years ago where 77 > [potential] attendees from China asked for invitation letters and > only 27 were able to get a visa in time. We have no idea what it > was at the time that made this [not] happen, nor can we predict the > decision time for US visas. > > There probably ARE places in the world that would allow "everyone" > to attend, but it's not at all clear we would find a suitable venue > and even less clear the community would agree on the definition > of "suitable". Remember, this is a community who cannot agree on > the definition of "approximately" :-) > > Ole > > > Ole J. Jacobsen > Editor and Publisher > The Internet Protocol Journal > Office: +1 415-550-9433 > Cell: +1 415-370-4628 > docomo: (090) 3337-9311 > Orange UK: +44 7805 977889 > Web: protocoljournal.org > E-mail: olejacobsen@xxxxxx > E-mail: ole@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Skype: organdemo >