Until today's receipt of a letter from Sen. Diane Feinstein, she was
my candidate for the next California governor of the month, but now
I know she should stay in Washington, where we really need her.

Feinstein's letter was a response to my request to remedy the insane
new security measures keeping artists out of the US, the government
(that be *our* government) blackmailing performing-arts organizations
to pay a $1,000 fee for "premium processing," and still denying entry
to such dangerous people as singers, dancers, pianists and their ilk.

Feinstein agreed with "the concerns raised on behalf of the performing
arts community," and wrote to the man in charge to express her views.

Eduardo Aguirre Jr. is acting director of the Bureau of Citizenship
and Immigration Services (the former INS, now part of the Department
of Homeland Security); his address is 425 I Street, N.W., Washington,
DC 20536.

Feinstein wrote about her concerns about "adjudication delays in the O&P
guest artist visa program," pointing out that current law requires the
Bureau to process visa applications within 14 days.  The actual backlog:
up to six months.  [O&P, I think, is "Athletes, Performers and Extraordinary
Ability Workers," although I can't figure out how the acronym works.)

Feinstein lists some bizarre stories, such as the Pasadena Symphony's
six-month-long struggle with the Bureau to engage pianist Howard Shelly,
getting the visa two hours before the scheduled flight from London.  She
lists complaints from a dozen California organizations, and says the SF
Opera ("which has fiscal constraints") was forced to pay the $1,000
premium fee nine times in the first four months of the year alone.

The worst part of the problem, of course, is that a large - and growing
- number of foreign artists have not been cleared for entry at all.  At
the very least, Feinstein says, organizations submitting applications
six months in advance "should not be forced to pay $1,000 to ensure the
visa is adjudicated in time." (The real cost of the problem - in payments
and fees for substitutes - may well be in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars.)

Feinstein's conclusion is simple and reasonable: allowing for the "national
security issues inherent in visa adjudication," she asks Aguirre to
ensure that "these visas are processed in a reasonable amount of time."

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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