Re: [802SEC] visa policy (was Re: [802SEC] Plenary Meetinglocations)
Roger, It's not secret to those who are seeking Visa's. Suggest you promote applying early as part of the requesting an Invitation Letter process. The fee rebate has little or nothing to do with folks applying early, in fact, it might have just the opposite effect, since folks who wait to apply later are assured they will get their money back. If they were concerned about the fee they would for sure apply as early as possible. The problem is NOT with the fee. The problem was created due to some bad advise from the IEEE-CS, who insisted that we could only extend "receipts for registration," so we were forced to wait until registration was turned on and they had completed registration before they could apply for their "Letter of Acknowledgement". Now that we can issue a "Letter of Invitation" well in advance of the session, there is no impediment to applying early and I believe serious candidates will do so. So promote and track success through the invitation process a!
nd let the registration and cancellation processes continue to take care of themselves. :-)
Thanx, Buzz
Dr. Everett O. (Buzz) Rigsbee
Boeing - SSG
PO Box 3707, M/S: 7M-FM
Seattle, WA 98124-2207
(425) 865-2443 Fx: (425) 865-6721
Cell: (425) 417-1022
everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger B. Marks [mailto:r.b.marks@ieee.org]
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 5:49 PM
To: Rigsbee, Everett O
Cc: stds-802-sec@ieee.org
Subject: RE: [802SEC] visa policy (was Re: [802SEC] Plenary Meetinglocations)
Buzz,
A secret policy doesn't address my points (1) or (3), and it doesn't
fully address (2).
Roger
At 17:05 -0800 2004-12-13, Rigsbee, Everett O wrote:
>Roger, I'm afraid you are too late. We've already been doing that
>for over a year; we just didn't want to publicly advertise it in
>fear that we would suddenly get a rash phoney Visa problems from
>folks just trying to avoid the late cancellation fee. But everyone
>who wound up in that situation did get the full refund because we
>consider that falls under the extreme hardship or circumstances
>beyond ones control, which have always been given special
>consideration with respect to penalties.
>
>Thanx, Buzz
>Dr. Everett O. (Buzz) Rigsbee
>Boeing - SSG
>PO Box 3707, M/S: 7M-FM
>Seattle, WA 98124-2207
>(425) 865-2443 Fx: (425) 865-6721
>Cell: (425) 417-1022
>everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Roger B. Marks [mailto:r.b.marks@IEEE.ORG]
>Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 4:19 PM
>To: STDS-802-SEC@listserv.ieee.org
>Subject: [802SEC] visa policy (was Re: [802SEC] Plenary Meeting
>locations)
>
>
>I would like to propose a policy of full refunds for registrants who
>promptly submit evidence that they applied for a visa at least 60
>days before the session and were subsequently denied it.
>
>This would serve several purposes. It would:
>
>(1) encourage people to apply early enough for their visa,
>increasing the chance they will get it. [I recommend that people
>apply 90 days in advance, but I think that the refund policy should
>use a smaller number than that.]
>
>(2) give people a fair chance to preregister, without risk, even if
>they are still awaiting their visa.
>
>(3) give 802 a source of statistics on visa denial. While we
>perceive a problem of people not getting visas, it's very hard to
>understand the problem unless we understand how early they applied.
>
>Roger
>
>
>At 11:31 -0800 2004-12-13, Rigsbee, Everett O wrote:
>>Jesse, It has never been more than one or two per Plenary Session
>>that I am aware of, and those were mostly due to insufficient lead
>>time to get the Visa approved prior to the meeting dates, not that the
>>Visa would not be granted. With our improved process for registration
>>and facilities for providing advance session invitations we expect the
>>numbers to drop to virtual zero. It just took us a while to
>>understand exactly what impact the new homeland security policies were
>>having and the requirements to compensate for them effectively.
>>
>>I think we are over the hump on this one now. :-) We did have
>>18 attendees from the Peoples Republic of China at our San Antonio
>>session and I don't believe anyone had to cancel for Visa reasons.
>>
>>Thanx, Buzz
>>Dr. Everett O. (Buzz) Rigsbee
>>Boeing - SSG
>>PO Box 3707, M/S: 7M-FM
>>Seattle, WA 98124-2207
>>(425) 865-2443 Fx: (425) 865-6721
>>Cell: (425) 417-1022
>>everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Walker, Jesse [mailto:jesse.walker@intel.com]
>>Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 11:05 AM
>>To: Rigsbee, Everett O; Bruce Kraemer ; p.nikolich@ieee.org
>>Cc: stuart.kerry@PHILIPS.COM; 802 @F2F Dawn S; Darcel Moro @F2F; 802
>>@F2F Jennifer Hull; 802 Exec
>>Subject: RE: Plenary Meeting locations
>>
>>Does anyone have statistics on the number of people who signed up for
>>the meetings but then canceled due to visa problems? If not, how are
>>we going to determine how much of a problem U.S. plenaries are
>>causing? If so, can you share the statistics with us? This would be
>>useful
> >information to apply to lobbying efforts to reform the U.S. visa
> rules.
>>
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