Bizarre, International, Society

Pure Genius: U.S. Immigration Officials Give Special Visa To Former Playboy Bunny As An “Individual of Extraordinary Ability”

Immigration officials have declared Shera Bechard former Miss November and girlfriend of Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner to be pure genius. Bechard was allowed a visa by immigration officials as an “individual with extraordinary ability.” The specific extraordinary ability was left unstated on immigration forms but it is believed that the matter was fully researched by officials.

A review of her web site (done as part of our own editorial process) did not reveal any of the specific examples given by the government for this visa like an “internationally recognized award, such as a Nobel Prize.” However, few of us would likely recover from bikini shots of the Dalai Lama.

The O-1 visa allows individuals of “extraordinary ability” to come to the United States for up to three years. Methinks we need a new category for some candidates to separate the brainiacs from the bunnies.

This story did get me thinking about the limited review given to such discretionary decisions. Under current rules, a person like Stephen Hawking would have little recourse in the denial of a O-1 visa application as he watched Bechard shown through customs by a dozen attending customs officials. The standard is so subjective and discretionary that it defies review.

The government site lays out the criteria. It would seem that Bechard would fall under O-1B (B is for bunny):

The O-1 nonimmigrant visa is for the individual who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements.
The O nonimmigrant classification is commonly referred to as:

O-1A: individuals with an extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, or athletics (not including the arts, motion pictures or television industry)
O-1B: individuals with an extraordinary ability in the arts or extraordinary achievement in motion picture or television industry
O-2: individuals who will accompany an O-1, artist or athlete, to assist in a specific event or performance. For an O-1A, the O-2’s assistance must be an “integral part” of the O-1A’s activity. For an O-1B, the O-2’s assistance must be “essential” to the completion of the O-1B’s production. The O-2 worker has critical skills and experience with the O-1 that cannot be readily performed by a U.S. worker and which are essential to the successful performance of the O-1
O-3: individuals who are the spouse or children of O-1’s and O-2’s
General Eligibility Criteria
To qualify for an O-1 visa, the beneficiary must demonstrate extraordinary ability by sustained national or international acclaim and must be coming temporarily to the United States to continue work in the area of extraordinary ability.

Extraordinary ability in the fields of science, education, business or athletics means a level of expertise indicating that the person is one of the small percentage who has risen to the very top of the field of endeavor.

Extraordinary ability in the field of arts means distinction. Distinction means a high level of achievement in the field of the arts evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered to the extent that a person described as prominent is renowned, leading, or well-known in the field of arts.

To qualify for an O-1 visa in the motion picture or television industry, the beneficiary must demonstrate extraordinary achievement evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition significantly above that ordinarily encountered to the extent the person is recognized as outstanding, notable or leading in the motion picture and/or television field.

Source: Reuters

38 thoughts on “Pure Genius: U.S. Immigration Officials Give Special Visa To Former Playboy Bunny As An “Individual of Extraordinary Ability””

  1. Elaine,
    I think she has other assets that we are unaware of! The ass-et management may just be the icing on the cake. We will have to ask Hef before he gets too senile!

  2. What’s hilarious is… her site is down. (Yeah, I know, i clicked the linky) Must be all the business Prof. Turley sent her way. 😉

  3. I’m sure she’s an individual of extraordinary ability. I heard that she’s an expert in the field of T & Ass-ets Management.

  5. Nal,

    I have a comment that I am not going to state…… not my normal style…. but hey, who says we have to state the obvious…..

  6. Well, yes, but of course, just by being born Ms. November outperformed 280,000,000 other sperm qualifying her as a member of the 3.57 * 10-7 percent club, a much more difficult race than than mere Mensa membership.

  8. For Mensa membership you need to score in the top 2%, that’s one in 200. She’s in a far more exclusive group than that.

  9. As Miss November she has out performed a number of other women which makes her special in her field. The first Playboy came out in Dec 1953. Since then, assuming an issue every month, there have been only 58 Miss Novembers, and about 700 Miss what-ever-month during that time. I’d say she’s in an exclusive group.

  13. On what grounds is this bullshit?

    How is her claiming of this:O-1B: individuals with an extraordinary ability in the arts or extraordinary achievement in motion picture or television industry

    And different from standard corporate H-1B Visa fraud?

    Do you truly believe tech companies can’t find American workers for those H-1B visa jobs and that it is just pure coincidence that H-1B jobs typically involve lower, not higher wages?

    http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/h1b.html

    Professor Norm Matloff’s H-1B Web Page
    Overview:

    The H-1B work visa is fundamentally about cheap labor.

    Though the tech industry lobbyists portray H-1B as a remedy for labor shortages and as a means of hiring “the best and the brightest” from around the world (which I strongly support), the vast majority are ordinary people doing ordinary work. Instead of being about talent, H-1B is about cheap labor.
    Employers accrue Type I wage savings by paying H-1Bs less than comparable Americans (U.S. citizens and permanent residents).

    Employers accrue Type II wage savings by hiring younger, thus cheaper, H-1Bs in lieu of older, thus more expensive (age 35+) Americans.

    Both types of wage savings are fully LEGAL, due to loopholes in the law and regulations. The problem is NOT one of lack of enforcement.

    Use of H-1B for cheap labor extends across the industry including the large U.S. mainstream firms., facilitated by the nation’s top immigration law firms. It does NOT occur primarily in the Indian ” body shops,” and it DOES occur in the hiring of international students from U.S. university campuses.

    The underpayment of H-1Bs is well-established fact, not rumor, anecdote or ideology. It has been confirmed by two congressionally-commissioned reports, and a number of academic studies, in both statistical and qualitative analyses.

    Even former software industry entrepreneur CEO Vivek Wadhwa, now a defender of foreign worker programs who is quoted often in the press, has confessed,
    I know from my experience as a tech CEO that H-1Bs are cheaper than domestic hires. Technically, these workers are supposed to be paid a “prevailing wage,” but this mechanism is riddled with loopholes.

    Wadhwa has also stated
    I was one of the first [CEOs] to use H-1B visas to bring workers to the U.S.A. Why did I do that? Because it was cheaper.

    Even Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the most strident advocate of the H-1B program Congress has ever had, now realizes that H-1B is used for cheap labor, in full compliance with the law. She says the program is undercutting American workers:
    U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat whose Congressional district includes Silicon Valley, framed the wage issue at the hearing, sharing the response to her request for some wage numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor.

    Lofgren said that the average wage for computer systems analysts in her district is $92,000, but the U.S. government prevailing wage rate for H-1B workers in the same job currently stands at $52,000, or $40,000 less.

    “Small wonder there’s a problem here,” said Lofgren. “We can’t have people coming in and undercutting the American educated workforce.”

  20. Ah . . . ummm . . . errr . . .

    Speechless . . . .

    I presume Heff’s a dem?

Comments are closed.