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Philippe Lemm The struggles of international musicians shut out of jobless aid during the pandemic have highlighted larger issues with the U.S. immigration system. When the CARES Act gave freelancers access to unemployment benefits for the first time in U.S. history late last March, New York-based drummer and band leader Philippe Lemm (frontman for the Philipe Lemm Trio) wasn t certain if he qualified as the holder of an O-1B visa, which is granted to individuals with an extraordinary ability in the arts. The website for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) wasn’t much help. It said they would be lenient, says Lemm, a citizen of The Netherlands who came to the U.S. on an F-1 student visa in 2011 before being granted his first O-1B visa in 2013. But that’s a very stretchable term. ....
‘Catastrophic’: For Artists on Visas, Unemployment Claims Come With Severe Risk Billboard 5/11/2021 Philippe Lemm When the CARES Act gave freelancers access to unemployment benefits for the first time in U.S. history late last March, New York-based drummer and band leader Philippe Lemm (frontman for the Philipe Lemm Trio) wasn’t certain if he qualified as the holder of an O-1B visa, which is granted to individuals “with an extraordinary ability in the arts.” The website for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) wasn’t much help. “It said they would be lenient,” says Lemm, a citizen of The Netherlands who came to the U.S. on an F-1 student visa in 2011 before being granted his first O-1B visa in 2013. “But that’s a very stretchable term.” ....
“The Democrats’ relationship with immigration is not so great either,” points out artist Pablo Helguera. March 4, 2021 Artist Rashwan Abdelbaki greets a guest at the Queens Museum, December 2018, with a work of his on the wall in the background. Photo Michael Wilson, courtesy Artistic Freedom Initiative. Many culture workers in the U.S., typically avid believers in international cultural exchange, are heaving a sigh of relief at the election of Joe Biden, a far more liberal-minded president than his Republican predecessor. No more travel bans! A reunion with global organizations! An end to slow-rolled visa application processes! Artists, immigration lawyers, and administrators at art schools and museums look forward to a return to relative normalcy. But even many of them say that the past four years were incredibly bruising, the previous normal still left much to be desired, and they hope the new president will go further than his party has in the past in lib ....