Visa fee hikes and delays hinder international artists from touring the United States

A Japanese rock band opened for a German post-punk trio followed by an alternative group from New Zealand. And that was just day one at the New Colossus Festival, held last week.

The six-day event takes its name from the poem cast on the Statue of Liberty, viewed as a welcome message for new immigrants: «Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses....»

Now in its sixth year, 196 artists were scheduled to perform, more than half from outside the United States. But New Colossus may be an exception, not the rule, for international artists hoping to perform in the U.S. In the last few years, the process has grown much more arduous and expensive.
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«It's already at the maximum level of difficulty that we can rationalize,» said Mischa Dempsey, frontperson for the thrilling Montreal band Knitting, who performed at New Colossus and described the process as «labor intensive.»

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«I can't even think about it getting worse.»

How did we get here? On April 1, 2024, the USCIS introduced a visa fee increase, raising the cost from $460 to over $1,615 per musician application, the first bump since 2016. According to the USCIS website, the increase allows the organization to «recover our operating costs more fully and support timely processing of new applications.»

Nearly a year later, «we are seeing the opposite,» immigration attorney Gabriel Castro said. «We are seeing cases actually slow down.»

The USCIS did not respond to an email from the AP.