US Visa Advocacy: Progress & Wins in 2023-24
Last February, we shared with you our brief explainer about the recent USCIS Fee Changes, in which we outlined the important points of the new rule and what it means for international artists and their U.S. collaborators, employers, presenters and promoters. While any fee increase is a blow to our field, we’re happy to report some positive outcomes from our intensive advocacy work of this past year.
Here’s what happened:
When USCIS first announced its proposed fee increase in January of 2023, the new fees were so extreme that they risked making touring in the U.S. impossible for many foreign artists. International performers and their U.S. presenters already face visa fees and processes that many artists consider significant obstacles to U.S. touring; the proposed fee hike presented a major new barrier.
Tamizdat, whose mission is to support international artist mobility, immediately joined with our advocacy partners, the League of American Orchestras, to organized a major grass-roots response. When the government makes a major policy proposal, it is required to seek “advice and comment” from the public. So for two months last spring, we worked with the League of American Orchestras and the Performing Arts Visa Working Group to produce collective comments on behalf of the performing arts sector. In these comments we argued that the proposed fee changes would be devastating to the cultural and commercial interests of the performing arts sector, and that the Government needed to find a way to avoid unduly burdening a sector still struggling to recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. After our collective response was submitted, along with thousands of other comments, the U.S. government decided to delay making a decision on the fee hike for almost a year.
A Historic Interagency Meeting
Later in 2023, we worked together with colleagues at the League of American Orchestras to assemble a historic summit about problems with the U.S. artist visa system. The meeting brought together top officials from The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Partnership and Engagement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Department of State (DOS), who met with major stakeholders in the U.S. performing arts sector and leadership from the National Endowment for the Arts.
At this meeting, stakeholders brought to the government’s attention the most significant cultural and commercial barriers the U.S. artist visa process creates, and engaged top brass in a very productive and candid conversation about pathways to reform. The solutions discussed at the meeting came from Tamizdat’s annual white paper, Recommendations for Performing Arts Visa Policy. This paper offers practical solutions to current issues in the U.S. artist visa process, identified by a coalition of performing arts organizations. The meeting was broadly successful, and has fostered an unprecedented ongoing cross-agency conversation between stakeholders in the arts and key U.S. government decision makers. We are more hopeful than ever before that this engagement will lead to real reform.
The Final Fee Increase and Our Impact
In January 2024, the final fee schedule was released. There wasn’t a special exception for artists, but the final fee change did carve out exceptions that protect the most vulnerable in the cultural sector. In this new fee schedule, there are now substantial discounts for the fees charged to artists working with U.S. nonprofit organizations, and artists working with small U.S. businesses. For example, for P visa applications for an ensemble, if the petitioner is a nonprofit, the new fee increases by only $50.00, in contrast to the originally proposed 251% increase that would have increased the fees from $460 to $1,615.00.
Throughout the text of the government’s new rule, we were pleased to see the clear impact of our work, including direct quotes of our own language. For example, in the Preamble to the Fee Schedule, USCIS consistently acknowledges and refers to our collective comments, including to the statement that, “The unique nature of scheduling international guest artists requires that the visa process be efficient, affordable, and reliable so that U.S. audiences may experience artistic and cultural events.” Phrases and concepts that we’ve advanced in the national conversation, as well as in our specific 2023 advocacy, appeared multiple times in the text. The document refers to the arts, entertainment, and sports industries as “vitally important and beneficial,” stressing that DHS does not “intend to deter or unduly burden petitioners,” and directly refers to our comments when describing the carveout for the nonprofits and small organizations that make up so much of our field.
The government also directly acknowledged our recommendations for improving O and P visa processing in the Preamble, stating they appreciate the suggestions and may implement them through future actions.
Looking Ahead
Throughout our 30 years of research, advocacy, and work, and services in the international performing arts in the United States, we have never before seen these critical considerations take on such a significant role in the national conversation. In the past year, we have broken new ground in building collaborative relationships amongst various arts stakeholders and organizations, and the U.S. government, to address the hurdles that have overburdened the performing arts industry for too long. We’re thrilled to see where we can bring that national conversation in 2024 and beyond.
Looking back, 2023 was a landmark year for Tamizdat. In addition to our advocacy work, Tamizdat petitioned for over 3,800 performing artists in 2023 and presented educational sessions at more than 25 international cultural conferences.
As we move into spring of 2024, we’re feeling the optimism in our commitment to international artist mobility.
Sincerely,
Liz Moller, Matthew Covey & the Tamizdat Team