After excitedly closing her showcase at next week's South by Southwest music festival, Zoë Meadthe British shoegaze artist known as Wildestshe tried to land other US club and festival gigs to offset her already high travel expenses.
To do all this legally, he learned, he needed a temporary work visa that costs $460 plus another $2,800 for faster processing. Hiring a lawyer or immigration specialist to file the application would have added at least another thousands of dollars to the bill. “It's very dangerous,” he says. “You have to discard a lot of things, which is really frustrating.”
And starting April 1, immigration and visa entry costs for international artists playing festivals, concerts or label events in the US are set to increase even more.
Application fees for 'O' and 'P' visas — the former covering “individuals of exceptional ability”, the latter “internationally renowned performing groups” and musical ensembles of up to 25 people — will rise from $460 to a maximum cost of $1,655 and $1,615, respectively. That price includes a $600 asylum program fee, which USCIS will use to offset the costs of adjudicating cases of immigrants seeking asylum from persecution and violence — a process unrelated to the music business.
There are, however, reduced rates for visa applications supported by a promoter, agency, festival or record label (the so-called petitioner) with fewer than 25 full-time employees. For these companies, the new fee is capped at $830 (including the $300 asylum levy). For non-profit petitioners, the total fee is capped at $530. (Production crews and travel staff also require an appropriate O or P visa to work in the US, while artists invited to perform at official events like SXSW, like Mead, may be able to enter the US using an ESTA/Visa Waiver, which costs $21).
USCIS officials say the increased fees will cover rising business costs and reduce processing delays. They also argue that the price hike will not affect musicians because promoters, club owners and record labels will pay the fees.
It's cold comfort to international acts — especially those starting out in their live careers — who fear those costs will eventually be passed on to them, making it too expensive for all but established artists to play dates in the US. “It will have a chilling effect,” he says Rita Sostrin, a Los Angeles-based immigration attorney who represents many international acts. “I definitely hear a lot of resentment from my customers about these higher fees.”
The fear among international artists, especially those at the start of their live careers, is that the extra cost will eventually be passed on to them, making it too expensive for all but established international acts to play American venues and festivals. “That burden of applying and paying for visas is shared between artists, managers, promoters and venues,” he says. Neeta Raghuvanski, president of the US Music Managers Forum, which opposes the fee increases. “It will affect artists' decisions about how these tours go,” he says.
Last year, USCIS temporarily suspended plans to raise fees after strong opposition from artist and music-industry advocacy groups such as the National Independent Venue Association and UK Music.
The new fees to be introduced on April 1 are nominally lower than the non-graded increases first proposed by USCIS, but still represent a “significant additional burden on UK touring bands and artists, particularly emerging gigs that operate on the tightest of margins,” he says. Interim CEO of UK Music Tom Kill.
These margins are further squeezed by the majority of international artists who need to pay for “premium” visa processing, he says Andy Corriganowner of UK-based Viva La Visa, which specializes in immigration services for music acts and has recently worked on US tour arrangements for The Damned and ex SPICY girl Melanie C. Premium processing fees increased in February from $2,500 to $2,805 with the time to process applications increasing from 15 calendar days to 15 business days.
“Almost every band we deal with has to use premium because standard processing is so uncertain,” he says. “The whole system is loaded against young and emerging artists. It is so unfair”.
Corrigan says he lowered his company's visa fees after the price hikes “to try to moderate the cost increase for everyone,” but he fears some artists will be tempted to enter the U.S. illegally without the proper documentation for visa. as a result of the additional financial burden placed on them.
“People need to take a longer view and recognize the value of cultural exchange and music, and not just think they can squeeze every dollar out of the industry,” he says. John Collins, chief executive of UK industrial trade group LIVE. He calls USCIS's surprise announcement in January to increase visa fees – after a period of consultation – a “fait accompli” that will have a detrimental impact on the health of the UK and US grassroots music industry.
“You just feel like you're getting punched in the face all the time,” says Mead, who had to turn down an invitation to play a pre-SXSW festival, New Colossus, in New York next month. “It was already expensive, and they put it even more, and it's like, 'how?'”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/visa-fees-us-touring-music-artists-higher-costs/
