ACTION - please help. Visa costs

Visa help request❤️

We have until March 6th to oppose a proposed 250% visa cost increase for overseas artists coming to play in the USA. This would affect all P+O work visas. 

I can't stress enough how damaging this proposed increase would be for bands & artists including TJF. 

The BASIC cost for applying for a visa is currently $460 per person. This under the new proposal would jump to $1615 per person. This is the bottom line cost, the reality is that it costs much more in legal fees, expediting & travel costs. 

We think it's outrageous to propose this sort of increase in costs, especially after the struggle of Covid & how the landscape of touring has changed since the pandemic. The US tour we did in November 2022, it was beautiful & creative & seeing you all again was so precious to us. The financial reality was that it was much harder than previous years & I know (I did the books $ on the last tour). Artist guarantees have gone down (That's the amount you are guaranteed to get paid for a show) & ALL the costs associated with touring have gone up. 

I am extremely grateful to be a musician & for the career we've had. This isn't a moan or a sob story. We are dealing & adapting to the changes & protesting the ones that are unreasonable - like this one. We want to be agents of change, along with all the amazing musicians & groups that are advocating positive change for the industry. 

Please help us raise awareness by sharing this information to anyone who cares about live music & bands visiting from overseas. 

There's 2 sites that you can visit : This is the form if you're in the Music Industry & will be directly affected by the potential changes afoot

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSccB8oD7DHaKW6MzewsI1tOODIz5XJMRPsRoZfbsZaw5YH2AA/viewform

And this is the public comment page where you can make your opinion known. Go to the green bit at the top that says "SUBMIT A FORMAL COMMENT".

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/04/2022-27066/us-citizenship-and-immigration-services-fee-schedule-and-changes-to-certain-other-immigration

Please try and do this before March 6th. This could be career changing for a lot of artists. If anyone has any questions, hit us up at aaaruthrol@gmail.com

Thank you for reading & lending your support.

Lots of love R&R&M