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Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

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Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#301

Post by theshrike79 »

aiauthoritydev wrote: post #127
superfrank wrote: post #10

It's funny, early on it says > The O-1 category includes the O-1A, which is designated for individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business or athletics and the O-1B, reserved for those with “extraordinary ability or achievement”. Then later it says > The O-1B visa, once reserved for Hollywood titans and superstar musicians, has evolved over the years. I understand those two aren't necessar…

I am not a lawyer. But OF models using O1 visa is totally fine. It is the intended purpose. The visa itself is meant for researchers, scholars who have job offers, athletes, actors etc. it has no cap and clear criteria. OF models who make a lot of money should totally qualify for this. Also this visa in uncapped so giving visas to OF models does not take away anything from scientists and others. O visa's original int…

TBH the president's (current) wife came in on an O1 visa too - as was the original intent like you said.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#303

Post by fennecfoxy »

areoform wrote: post #9

Such articles are interesting because they're tacit disapproval, but I would argue that this use of the O-1 is the most American way to use it. There's a reason why Hollywood became the Earth's center of cultural gravity post-WW2, https://goldenglobes.com/articles/exiles-and-emigres-hollywo... You may argue that these people aren't of such import, but I would beg to differ. This is the future of culture. These people…

>These people shape the culture that the young people around you consume. They create the memes of six-seven-ification.

I'd disagree, six-seven-ification is caused by the human desire for clout and tribal motivations - I'd argue that social currency is the reason people pursue fiat currency; ask yourself this, if I have you $100 billion, but you could not interact with any human beings from then on, would that $100 billion still matter?

Rather than influencers forcing memes, "six-seven-ification" arises organically from the authors' pursuing of belonging/clout within a tribe. What I would say is more interesting is that the lifetime of such cultural outputs is becoming more and more fleeting.

For Millenials & gen X our memes seemed to have quite a bit of permanence over the years. For the boomers and silent generations before us, their cultures were even more static (and traditional) by comparison. For gen z/a it seems their cultural language changes month to month, sometimes week to week.

Memes aren't enjoyed for years now, they're enjoyed for a few months. Horizontally spinning rat, Coffin dance, etc are all ancient history now.

And you can see the reaction to this; there are spikes in search interest on a lot of classic (2005-2015) memes, Gen Z is desperately embracing retro tech like camcorders, polaroids and 90s/00s outfits in a snap back to reality. The gravity of this cannot be understated.

Mom's spaghetti.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#304

Post by throwaway2037 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #180
Jare wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the reason for this to be a visa is because their fields' activities were in-person (acting in movies/plays/shows, academic life & research, sports training & leagues, etc). A streamer / OF worker is not like that as far as I know (but e-sports is). So this is purely to bring people with money and/or influence, nothing exceptional except the number of 0's.

> I thought the reason for this to be a visa is because their fields' activities were in-person (acting in movies/plays/shows, academic life & research, sports training & leagues, etc). A streamer / OF worker is not like that as far as I know An OnlyFans worker may make the bulk of her money by meeting fans in person for dates. That can't be done over the internet.

    > An OnlyFans worker may make the bulk of her money by meeting fans in person for dates.
I don't believe it. Do you have any evidence? As I understand, the money is made two ways: (1) regular subscriptions and (2) whales that pay for extra content. Also, most of them have private chat and email, which I assume is serviced offshore from somewhere like the Philippines where it is cheap and easy to hire English speakers.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#305

Post by throwaway2037 »

testacc74 wrote: post #237
mpalmer wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the interest of fairness, can you really say different about "mainstream" French culture?

Well I don't know much about French aside from the joke but Cannes obviously has way better taste than Hollywood. The neat part is, with social media and global internet, culture are generally degenerating regardless of countries. If I were American citizen(gladly Im not) I might as well just let them in to get some tax money, and potentially see if the industry can be used as a soft propaganda machine. Just like Hol…

There are hundreds of small film festivals all over the United States each year. The biggest that I know is probably Sundance Film Festival. They have just as much "taste" (whatever that means) as Cannes (Film Festival). France also produces lots of shitty French language films that never leave the French-speaking world. Canal+ is the gold standard for French language film production.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#306

Post by throwaway2037 »

ndriscoll wrote: post #44
superfrank wrote: post #10

It's funny, early on it says > The O-1 category includes the O-1A, which is designated for individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business or athletics and the O-1B, reserved for those with “extraordinary ability or achievement”. Then later it says > The O-1B visa, once reserved for Hollywood titans and superstar musicians, has evolved over the years. I understand those two aren't necessar…

It's not "just entertainment". We want extraordinary athletes and musicians to inspire people and show them what humans are capable of. Extraordinary prostitutes are generally not inspiring people in the way that most people probably would like society to move. It's fine to place different amounts of cultural value on these things and not remain neutral about the worth of all possible human endeavors. When someone de…

Lots of extraordinary athletes are not good role models, yet we still grant them O1 visas. Many of them have many children to different women and are terrible fathers. To me, influencers are like the athletes of the attention economy. In the old world (20+ years ago, before iPhones), media was much more tightly controlled. It was harder to get famous. Now with mobile Internet, a new, parallel fame hierarchy that appeared. To me, most influencers seem like popular people from high school, but they use social media to extend their reach and shelf-life.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#307

Post by throwaway2037 »

lanyard-textile wrote: post #32
superfrank wrote: post #10

It's funny, early on it says > The O-1 category includes the O-1A, which is designated for individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business or athletics and the O-1B, reserved for those with “extraordinary ability or achievement”. Then later it says > The O-1B visa, once reserved for Hollywood titans and superstar musicians, has evolved over the years. I understand those two aren't necessar…

Entertainment is an industry :) It would be unwise to filter out the fun people. We'd all become a bunch of unfun nerds.

While I know you wrote this in jest, you raise a very good point! A lot of people with STEM jobs unwind after a long day by watching or listening to comedy -- TV, film, stand-up, YouTube, whatever. I have no issue with it. Also, lots of them go home and play video games. That is another form of entertainment (fun).

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#308

Post by throwaway2037 »

xp84 wrote: post #159
apparent wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the question is why do virtual/internet stars need to be in the US? Actors or musicians would have primarily performed live or been recorded live, in US cities. But an OF model? Why does this person need to be physically located in the US at all? What is the benefit to the person, or to the US?

Benefit to the person is probably a path to citizenship and more economic opportunities (especially since being a camgirl is a young person’s career with almost no long-term prospects) Benefit to the USA, being generous, is that those earnings of the camgirl may then be spent in the US instead of flowing overseas. At least some of it will. Critics would rightly point out though that importing thousands of camgirls in…

I assume that foreign influencers (Instagram, YouTube, OF) mostly move to two places: (1) Los Angeles or (2) Miami. Both have great weather and large networks of people in similar industry.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#309

Post by throwaway2037 »

apparent wrote: post #165
justinhj wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tax revenue

What is the average turnover/tenure of a camgirl? I'd think that most popular camgirls come and go pretty quickly, such that giving them visas that were formerly reserved for performing musicians would not necessarily make sense.

    > visas that were formerly reserved for performing musicians would not necessarily make sense
I don't think the O1/2 visas in the United States are capped. There is no annual limit.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#310

Post by raxxorraxor »

jjp wrote: post #299
raxxorraxor wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OF models make money until a certain age though. Sure, not too different to the current job market you could argue, but usually any "influencer" career today is quite short lived if you haven't a very specific niche. In my country prostitution is legal, but I think some countries are very hypocritical here about OF.

Is the influencer career being short lived any different from an athlete

Not really. Athletes sometimes get advertising contracts, which OF models will probably not. But those athletes are probably a small minority as well.
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