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Notes -
An acquaintance was posting on Facebook about hiring iconographers to paint frescos on the inside of the church. There aren't many such people in the US, it's quite specialized, so they were bringing over people from Eastern Europe to do it. Presumably if it cost another $100,000 they would wait for a different administration to reverse the decision. They would probably not go ahead and hire an American, because they want a very specific look, and also it's a team of several people. Possibly for that sum of money they could send some Americans to Eastern Europe, train them for several years under a master there, and have them come back and do the work. On net, I would be fine with that solution, and might have volunteered as an apprentice.
I don't know how many work visas are odd little edge cases like that, and can appreciate a law that doesn't try to incentivize more people to make their IT help desk or whatever look like a quirky little cultural job.
In practice, I suspect that you'd cover these people as religious worker visas. Even if they're lay.
Obviously Bulgarians are the best at icons(and nothing else, I might add). But bringing in people for this specific need is quite doable without an H1B.
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I would accept a neoclassical art visa and make it very generous, in exchange for the Trump Administration firing hellfire missiles at architectural students and their maniac mentors - ala Nasser Al-Awlaki.
At the very least, it would lead to a renaissance in brutalist bunker design.
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