USCIS’s own policies are contributing in part to the dramatic slowdown of case processing times that affect millions of individuals, families, and businesses throughout the country, Jason Boyd, policy counsel with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Government Relations department, writes in Think Immigration. Earlier this year in February, eighty-six members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) that demanded accountability for the agency’s increasingly lengthy processing delays.
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Designer of Dreams
Located in the recently-opened Sainsbury Gallery in London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” features over 500 pieces that trace the house of Dior’s work and influences beginning with the inception of the fashion house in 1947. Focusing specifically on Dior’s fascination with British culture, the exhibition celebrates the designer’s successful revival of high fashion in the years following World War II, when countries throughout Europe were still being forced to ration their resources. “In 1947, Christian Dior changed the face of fashion with his New Look, which redefined the female silhouette and reinvigorated the post-war Parisian fashion industry,” explains V&A’s Curator of Modern Textiles & Fashion, Oriole Cullen. The display of 200 rare couture gowns “showcases the ways in which Dior’s succeeding creative directors have been inspired by his legacy,” from the daring designs of Yves Saint Laurent to the ebullience of John Galliano and the minimalism of current Creative Director, Maria Grazia Chiuri. A collection of Christian Dior’s personal possessions is presented alongside the gowns, including accessories, photography, film, perfume, make-up, illustrations, and magazines, to give visitors a deeper understanding of the man behind the successful couture house.
USCIS: Israeli Nationals Now Eligible for E-2 Treaty Investor Visas
US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that effective May 1, 2019, eligible Israeli nationals already in the US in a lawful nonimmigrant status (along with spouses and unmarried children under twenty-one-years of age) can file to request a change of status to E-2 status.
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Earth Day New York 2019
This week the Earth Day Initiative hosted its annual Earth Day New York Festival in Union Square, meant to inspire attendees to make increasingly environmentally-friendly choices. This year’s festival was a special edition of the event — the start of a year-long countdown to Earth Day’s 50th anniversary in 2020. In addition to the dozens of exhibitors, including non-profits, green businesses, kids' activities, and live performances, the outdoor festival featured artists who created works of art — live and on-site — surrounding environmental themes that were inspired by the recent Green New Deal proposal. Among those featured was Molly Egan, a Philadelphia-based artist who, in anticipation of the art installation, said that her artwork depicts “people making more sustainable choices like recycling, composting, replacing plastic water bottles with reusable ones, and eating more environmentally friendly foods.” John Oppermann, Earth Day Initiative’s executive director, emphasized the importance of interactive events like Earth Day New York and noted how important the event has been since its founding in 1970: “That was a time when people really raised their voices and said, ‘We need to do something about these environmental issues.’ A lot of the safeguards we have in place today, we take for granted.” He added: “That is something we should keep in mind…when we see attacks on environmental protections we have now.”
Immigration Impact: “Director Jordan Peele Casts More Immigrant Actors, Tells More Inclusive Stories.”
Fifty percent of Latino immigrants, thirty-three percent of black immigrants, and twenty-five percent of Muslim immigrants on television are portrayed as criminals, according to a 2017 study by The Opportunity Agenda, a social justice communications lab. The study, called “Power of POP: Media Analysis of Representations of Immigrants in Popular TV Shows,” demonstrates that biased and narrow portrayals of immigrants and people of color in Hollywood is not new. But some in Hollywood, including Academy-Award winning writer and director Jordan Peele, are beginning to change this.
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Museum of Street Art at Bowery Hotel
The Museum of Street Art (MoSA) in the citizenM New York Bowery Hotel is a “love letter” to downtown Manhattan’s the Bowery and the Lower East Side. The museum, dedicated to featuring the work of prominent graffiti artists, features work by the 5 Pointz creates collective, a group of twenty artists who originally painted work on 5 Pointz, the iconic five-story, block-long building in Long Island City that graffiti artists around the world used as a canvas for twelve years, but which was demolished in November 2013. Marie Cecile Flageul, MoSA’s curator, described the wonderful feeling of these graffiti artists having a new home: “It’s kind of like symbolizing us being a little happy again. Because now we have a home here and we’re able to, you know, come back and share a passion for aerosol art.” Visitors to the museum must check in at the hotel lobby, are guided by an ambassador to the 20th floor via the elevator, and enter the emergency stairwell (aka the “museum”) to descend back down to the lobby. Entry to the museum is free, but reservations are required.
Increased Denial Rates for H-1B and L-1s
H-1B denial rates in the US are reaching high levels compared to previous years, and L-1 visa applicants are facing challenges with renewals at the US/Canada border, according to recent reports. Data released through the H-1B Employer Data Hub from US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that denial rates for initial H-1B petitions between FY 2010 and FY 2015 never exceeded eight percent, and today the rate is three to four times higher at thirty-two percent, analysis from The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) shows.
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