Canadian musicians struggle to get visas to perform in the U.S., some cancel shows

CTV National News: Musicians hit by visa backlogs Some Canadian artists may not be able to perform in America this summer due to U.S. immigration backlogs. Sarah Plowman reports.

Some Canadian musicians set to perform in the United States this summer face the question — will the show go on?

Backlogs and processing delays of temporary U.S. visas required by entertainers, athletes and artists has forced some Canadian bands to cancel U.S. tour dates because paperwork wasn't processed in time.

Fredericton's "Josh Bravener & The Hypochondriacs" called off six shows scheduled for July 23-28 in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania because the band's temporary visa applications are stuck in a long queue.

"I just got an email yesterday saying it was still (a) five-and-a-half-month wait before they would even look at them, basically," Bravener said.

The one-week trip took months to organize, the lead singer said. The group also bought a van and made special stickers and T-shirts.

"It's all this work we did kind of thrown out. Pointless," Bravener said. "It's frustrating because we're just going down to play music."

Bandmate and guitarist Connor Fox said the festivals and venues have been understanding but it's still a hit, noting a lot of time and money goes into planning a tour and the musicians were looking forward to taking their music outside of the country.

"When we're a week out of doing that and finding out we're not able to do that, that's discouraging," he said.

Other musicians like Stephen Lewis of "Stephen Lewis and the Big Band of Fun," also of Fredericton, are still waiting for their U.S. visa.

Lewis paid about $2,000 to apply for a P-2 temporary visa back in April. He said he's been approved nine times before and has never waited longer than 40 days to get the green light.

Lewis was told if he wants to expedite his application, he would have to pay nearly C$4,000. He's not sure what he'll do.

"I'm also just left wondering now, because the application that I put in already has dates on it that have passed, if they're even going to approve it anyways," Lewis said.

Delays in visa processing

Los Angeles-based immigration lawyer Gabriel Castro explained how the approval process for a P-type visa, which would have taken about a month to a month and a half to approve last summer, is now taking as long as five months.

International musicians can pay about US$2,800 extra to expedite their applications, but visa fees to perform stateside already went up this year and not everyone can afford to pay the additional expense.

"This isn't going to affect Drake on his next U.S. tour. This is not going to affect Justin Bieber. But this is going to have a harder effect on those niche musicians," Castro said, pointing to indie artists and jazz musicians whose margins on tour are already thin.

"They can't afford to delay a few days. They can't afford the extra fees tacked on."

Reasons for delays

Castro described how the temporary U.S. visas required by international artists, entertainers and athletes are now being sent to Texas and then digitally transferred to one of two service centres in either California or Vermont.

Castro noted the California processing centre is seeing a major backlog.

"If your case was transferred to Vermont right now you'll see a two-month wait, where if your case was transferred to California you'll see a five-month wait," he said.

Advocacy

Liana White, executive director of the Canadian office of the American Federation of Musicians, said approximately 50 per cent of the bands they represent may face longer delays to get paperwork processed.

"In some situations they may need to cancel their dates, most especially if they are not able to remit the premium processing fee," she said.

In her experience, some of the files processed through California have been done within 35 days. Others haven't.

"We've been working very, very quickly to address this," she said, pointing out they have yet to receive answers as to how Texas decides which centre is going to get what file.

White said a lobby group made up of arts and entertainment entities, including lawyers, is working as quickly as possible to resolve the issues with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"It's not that musicians are being targeted, because sometimes they feel that they are," said White, noting that this impacts anyone in arts and entertainment, including athletes.

Other solutions

Some artists, such as Stephen Lewis, point out how Americans wanting to perform in Canada need a letter of invitation and not a visa.

He would like to see Canadians have the same access.

"Right now it kind of just feels like a cash grab – a cash grab and a big threat," he said. "To be like if you don't do this, not only can you not tour here, you're not welcome here."