Two violinists are expelled by the US

Two orchestral players from Bulgaria who have lived in the US for 14 years are to be deported this week.

Yuliyan Stoyanov, 40, and his wife Smiliana Lozanova, 36, have played since 2006 in the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, at Charleston.

Yuliyan’s visa expired in 2013 once he earned his PhD from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he became a faculty member. He also set up a strings academy with his wife.

But they failed to qualify for immigrant status as ‘foreign nationals of extraordinary ability’ and on Wednesday they will be flown home to Sofia, via Paris, together with their two US-born children.

Full report here.

UPDATE: Yuliyan’s dignified response to deportation.