Homeland Security wants to protect us from foreign bands

From the Beatles to the Sex Pistols, the opportunity to see foreign performances on U.S. soil has brought joy, insight, inspiration, and culture-expanding experiences to American kids ages 9 to 90. Now, our Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing to make it more difficult for Americans to experience performers from across our borders.

In a proposal published in the Federal Register last month, DHS wants to increase entry fees for temporary stays in the United States, known as “P visas,” among proposed fee increases for dozens of categories of entry into the United States. The US will perform, from $460 to $1,615, a more than three-fold increase.

“O visas” for long-term work stays for performers will be slightly higher, from $460 to $1,655. The two visa categories naturally have complex rules in addition to their costs.

This comes at a time when inflationary pressures on the equipment and staff required for touring have already surprised mid- and low-level performers, especially in countries other than your home, that touring at the cost of visitors is still a viable business. ready to give

A large portion of the new fees are designed to spread the cost of asylum applications across the body of people seeking to enter the United States for any reason.

British Music Magazine New Music Express reports that:

Some Canadians have spoken out against the proposed change, calling it “a huge hardship to pay such high visa fees”.

The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindman said on Twitter: “If you are a US citizen or company, please make an official comment about this – instructions below – for context we have already spent thousands of dollars on visas to enter the US; this is the only country. We are this Travel with prohibitive visa costs.”

Lindemann wrote in a later tweet: “It’s a huge pain to pay such a high visa fee on top of the 30% withholding tax when we play in the US. It’s hard enough to make money on tour.”

in an email stereogamTom McGreevy of Docs Limited said: “It’s a pretty big deal for bands in other countries, because it’s a significant burden, especially on new bands, but it’s something that will affect American audiences in a significant way, because it’s going to be an awful lot of bands touring. Discourage from and take the first step in building an audience here.”

The proposed rule change is still in the comment phase until March 6. Artist visa fees have remained the same since 2016.

Government funding mechanisms are peculiar and complex: Although the proposed rule would change, DHS claims, “it results in annual transfer payments
Applicant/applicant to USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] estimated at $1,612,133,742,” at the same time that “DHS estimates the annual net cost to the public [of the changes] would be $532,379,138.”

DHS’s visa requirements and inability to manage them intelligently have been embarrassing tourists, students and guest workers lately, as previously reported here by Fiona Harrigan in 2022 and November 2021 because.