Listening
Unlocking Word Meanings
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
- spirited / ˈspɪr ɪ tɪd / (adj.) – energetic and eager
Example:The spirited crowd cheered loudly for the winning team.
- arduous / ˈɑr dʒu əs / (adj.) – requiring a lot of effort and hard work; challenging
Example:If you don’t start studying for the exams now, it will become a much more arduous task later.
- rationalize / ˈræʃ ə nlˌaɪz / (v.) – to explain something, particularly a bad behavior, in a way that makes it appear more reasonable
Example:The company tried to rationalize the sudden price increase by explaining the higher costs of raw materials.
- divvy up / ˈdɪv i ʌp / (phrasal v.) – to share and distribute something between different people or groups
Example:The team members divvied up the tasks for the project to make the work easier.
- expedite / ˈɛk spɪˌdaɪt / (v.) – to make a process or an action happen faster
Example:The company hired more workers to expedite the delivery process and ensure customers received their orders on time.
Article
Read the text below.
In New York City, spirited badge-holders and independent music fans wove in and out of 150-person capacity clubs filled with groups from around the globe during the New Colossus Festival, held a few weeks ago.
Now in its sixth year, 196 artists were scheduled to perform, more than half from outside the United States. But New Colossus may be an exception, not the rule, for international artists hoping to perform in the U.S. In the last few years, the process of obtaining necessary visas has grown much more arduous and expensive.
“It’s already at the maximum level of difficulty that we can rationalize,” said Mischa Dempsey, frontperson for the thrilling Montreal band Knitting, who performed at New Colossus and described the process as “labor intensive.”
“I can’t even think about it getting worse.”
On April 1, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced a visa fee increase, raising the cost from $460 to over $1,615 per musician application, the first bump since 2016. According to the USCIS website, the increase allows the organization to “recover our operating costs more fully and support timely processing of new applications.”
Nearly a year later, “we are seeing the opposite,” immigration attorney Gabriel Castro said. “We are seeing cases actually slow down.”
Changes to the system have caused delays. According to Tamizdat, a nonprofit that advocates for international artist mobility, all visa petitions are now filed through a centralized service center in Texas and are randomly divvied up to preexisting California and Vermont service centers.
The result has been slowed processing times. Matthew Covey, an immigration attorney and Tamizdat’s executive director, says Vermont has gone from one month to three. In California, it previously took two to four months, but now, it’s eight.
“Nobody’s filing petitions long enough in advance to sustain an eight-month delay,” says Covey. “You got a 50/50 chance of it being done in a reasonable amount of time or having to pay an extra $2,800 to expedite it.”
This article was provided by The Associated Press.
Viewpoint Discussion
Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.
Discussion A
- Increased visa costs and delays make it harder for international artists to attend festivals in the U.S. How do you think these challenges might affect the success and image of music festivals? Do you think this could discourage new artists from trying to perform internationally? Why or why not? Discuss.
- In your opinion, should governments simplify the visa process for musicians and performers? What could be the pros and cons of a special visa process for artists? Should there be a difference in the process for well-known performers and new artists? Why or why not? Discuss.
Discussion B
- Do music festivals in your country mainly feature local performers, or do they also feature international artists? Do you think music festivals are more exciting if international artists perform, or would you still enjoy them if all the performers were from your country? Why? Discuss.
- If you were organizing a music festival, would you focus more on featuring local talents or trying to bring in international artists? What do you think would attract a larger audience? Discuss.
