I write this the morning after the 82^nd Academy Awards ceremony that caps a banner year in Hollywood. As has been the case for many years, immigrants were well represented on the red carpet and a number of winners for the evening were winners. For example, Best Supporting Actor went to Austrian immigrant Christoph Waltz for his role in Inglourious Basterds.

But all is not good when it comes to arts immigration. USCIS has all but declared war on foreign artists seeking visas to come to the US. The denial rate in arts cases has skyrocketed in the last few years and we are seeing case denials and requests for evidence that would have been “slam dunks” in prior years.

USCIS examiners – often with no background in the artistic categories where they sit in judgment – seem to be inventing novel standards for applications that are not based in the law and are not consistent with the intentions of Congress. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recognized this problem in a related extraordinary ability case decided last week and ordered USCIS to stop inventing standards in EB-1 cases. Hopefully, the message will be heard.

In the mean time, I am working with my friend and fellow immigration lawyer Rita Sostrin to develop a new Arts, Entertainment and Sports Immigration Task Force organization to advocate for more workable rules in this field and to assist lawyers working on these cases more effectively represent their clients. If you are interested in participating in this group, please email me at gsiskind@visalaw.com or Rita at rsostrin@sostrinimmigration.com .

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In firm news, this past week I was a panelist on two programs. I spoke on an American Immigration Lawyers Association teleseminar on Q visas for international cultural exchange visitors. I’ve used the occasion to expand and update my ABCs of Immigration article on the topic and it is included in this issue.

I also spoke at the Tennessee Bar Association’s Legal Technology conference in Nashville. I spoke on blogging and social networking tools and co-presented with my good friend Ross Kodner who is one of the country’s leading legal technology consultants. Ross’ bio can be found at http://www.microlaw.com/ross.html .

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Finally, we would invite readers interested in becoming Siskind Susser clients to contact us. My email is gsiskind@visalaw.com and my phone number is 901-682-6455 . Our firm assists clients locating anywhere in the US and we have attorneys with expertise in most areas of immigration law. You can also request an appointment by filling out a request form at http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html.

Regards,

Greg Siskind