The USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) has issued a binding precedent decision addressing the term “culturally unique” and its significance in the adjudication of petitions for performing artists and entertainers under the P-3 visa classification. Precedent decisions are administrative decisions that are legally binding on DHS components responsible for enforcing immigration laws in all proceedings involving the same issue.
The case involved a P-3 nonimmigrant petition filed on behalf of a musical group from Argentina that was denied a performing artists’ visa for failing to establish that the group’s performance was “culturally unique” as required for the P-3 visa classification. When the decision was recommended for review, AAO approved the petition after its review of the entire record, and clarified that a “culturally unique” style of art or entertainment is not limited to traditional art forms, but may include artistic expression that is deemed to be a hybrid or fusion of more than one culture or region.
William Pura, Canada
