Touring Musicians Will Soon Face More Expensive Visas to the U.S.
Affecting actors, athletes, and entertainers as well.
[gallery columns="3"]The U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently announced a new 42% fee increase for performance permits. This means the price for each application will rise from $325 USD to $460 USD per person on December 20, 2016. This will affect touring musicians and their crews, as well as actors, athletes, and entertainers of all kinds. A petition to eliminate the visa for performing musicians has attracted over 11,000 signatures so far. Liana White, executive director at the Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM) states:
“A fee surge of this kind adds an additional and unacceptable financial burden on our members. The position and arguments of the [American Federation of Musicians]/CFM and the arts coalition will urge USCIS to respond to its current lack of quality in service, and to press for vast improvements and consistency in processing times — especially now considering the substantial fee hikes.”
