Our Recent Meetings with USCIS and the Ombudsman’s Office RE: Major New Problems with Artist Visas
Dear friends and colleagues,
As you may recall from our September update, a recent change of procedure at USCIS has O and P visa petitions all going to the Texas Service Center, where they are then forwarded to either the California Service Center (CSC) or the Vermont Service Center (VSC). While VSC processing times have continued normally, erratic processing times at CSC have been wreaking havoc on the performing arts sector. Processing times at CSC are the slowest we have ever seen—more than eight months—which forces visa applicants to use USCIS’s “Premium Processing” expediting service; this can mean an effective fee increase of more than 500%. Alongside the Performing Arts Visa Working Group, Tamizdat has made it our top priority to solve this problem.
In December, Tamizdat coordinated a meeting with USCIS’s Ombudsman’s Office, and our colleagues at the League of American Orchestras set up a meeting with USCIS representatives, including a key member of its service center operations team. In response to a request from the Ombudsman’s Office, Tamizdat assembled data covering over 350 cases. We emphasized that if a U.S. arts organization is unlucky enough to have its petition sent to CSC, they have no choice but to cancel the performance or pay the $2,805 Premium Processing fee—an untenable situation that is having catastrophic consequences for the performing arts industry and cultural mobility in the U.S. and beyond.
When Tamizdat and the League of American Orchestras brought this matter to the attention of USCIS and the Ombudsman’s Office at our two meetings, both offices expressed surprise and concern regarding the scope of the problem. USCIS plans to meet shortly with the Ombudsman’s Office.
While severe delays at the California Service Center continue, USCIS has assured us that this is not “the new normal,” and they have committed to improving processing times. Tamizdat is proud to be pushing this issue forward in collaboration with the League of American Orchestras and other members of the Performing Artist Visa Working Group.
Sincerely,
The Tamizdat Team