Why your favorite international artist might be reconsidering their next U.S. tour

Culture Why your favorite international artist might be reconsidering their next U.S. tour July 14, 202610:46 AM ET By  Josie Fischels Daniel Hertzberg Here's something American concertgoers might not know: before a musician from another country can take the stage in the U.S., someone has to file paperwork with the federal government on their behalf. And not just any paperwork — a petition, hundreds of pages long, stacked with press clippings, award documentation, testimonial letters from other artists, venue contracts, a detailed tour itinerary, and evidence that the artist is legitimately accomplished at what they do. And that's just to start the clock in a process that may take over a year to complete. Sponsor Message Culture Bad Bunny skipped touring the states. Will other performers follow suit? This is the reality for international artists — from musicians to painters, dancers to comedians — who want to come to the U.S. to share their work. It's a complicated, expensive process that arts advocates say has long made the country a difficult place for foreign artists to access. But now, they say it's gotten much worse. The time it takes to process a visa has dramatically increased. The number of available interview slots at U.S. embassies is backlogged. Application costs have surged. And there's an added layer of uncertainty: paperwork can be perfect, fees can be paid, and yet artists still can be turned away at the border. For U.S. audiences, all of this means a quiet loss of global cultural exchange. What does the artist visa process look like? To illustrate the nonimmigrant visa process for artists, let's take Kongero, a small, Swedish folk a cappella group that completed its second U.S. tour last fall. First step: File a petition. The group's booking agent planned the tour and gathered all the necessary documentation to file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to demonstrate that the group qualified for a P-3 visa, the categ...