Summary: As of September 1993, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had approved petitions for about 41,000 O and P visas, which are temporary worker visas for persons with distinguished merit and ability, including artists, entertainers, and athletes. The State Department's overseas posts had issued about 23,000 O and P visas, and aliens holding these visas had entered the United States about 31,000 times. The law requires the Attorney General to report to Congress each year, beginning in 1993, on the occupations of aliens seeking O and P visas. The 1993 report was lost during processing, however, and was not sent to Congress until March 1994--nearly a year late. The report due in April 1994 is now being prepared. INS is in the process of developing an automated database to compile information on the occupations of aliens whose petitions for O and P visas are approved. Until this system is in place, INS is using statistical sampling to estimate the occupations of petitioners. Its sampling for the period ending September 1992 showed that the majority of petition beneficiaries were musicians and composers.
