Musical Space: Artist Visas

Musical Space

A couple years ago I was playing in an opera production; a famous Hungarian singer was slated to star — except that his visa application was held up because of a backlog, he couldn’t legally fly to the states, and the company had to hire a last-minute substitute. This kind of thing has been happening lately to international musicians, authors, dancers and filmmakers wanting to present their art in the U.S. using a special visa, the same kind used by athletes to compete and scientists to present at conferences. The paperwork is cumbersome and the decisions can be arbitrary. For the sake of the arts and international relations the process needs to be streamlined. As it stands now, hiring a foreign musician means sending the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service a $460 fee and a pile of documents: a signed contract, proof of “extraordinary ability” — meaning awards, reviews and sales figures — and a “consultation letter” from a peer group, which typically costs another 250 bucks.