USCIS Announces New Fees and Policies For Artist Visas!
LAW & DISORDER
Performing Arts Division
February 1, 2024
USCIS Announces New Fees and Policies For Artist Visas!
Late on the evening of January 31, 2024, USCIS, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Insecurity, released its long-awaited final rules implementing new filing fees and new petition procedures for obtaining U.S. visas for artists. As opposed to the rest of us who have to work twice as much to earn half as much, USCIS is rewarding itself for incompetency, indifference, and idiocy by awarding itself a raise as well as giving us more work to do. Essentially, effective April 1, 2024 all artist visa petitioners will experience higher costs, increased petition preparation work, new forms, and, effective February 26, 2024 lengthier timeframes for Premium Processing.
There are lot of details in the implementation of the new rules that we still do not know.
Here is what we do know so far:
EFFECTIVE APRIL 1, 2024
1. New Petition Filing Fees
O-1 and O-2 Petitions
U.S. nonprofits or “small employers” (defined as employers with less than 25 employees) will pay a $530 filing fee per petition.
Small employers will also be required to pay an additional $300 Asylum Fee* (which is waived for US nonprofits) for a total of $830 per petition.
Everyone else will pay a $1055 filing fee plus a $600 Asylum Fee* for a total of $1655 per petition.
*What, you may reasonably ask, is an “Asylum Fee?” USCIS claims it needs that to underwrite the hiring of additional staff to process U.S. asylum applications.
P-1, P-1S, and P-3S Petitions
U.S. nonprofits or “small employers” will pay a $510 filing fee per petition.
Small employers will also be required to pay an additional $300 Asylum Fee (which is waived for US nonprofits) for a total of $810 per petition.
Everyone else will pay a $1015 filing fee plus a $600 Asylum Fee for a total of $1615 per petition.
Based on the instructions to the revised I-129 forms (more on this at #4, below) the filing fees for itinerary-based petitions filed on behalf of artists or groups performing multiple engagements for different venues/presenters will be determined based on the status of the petitioner itself. So, for example, if an agent/manager files a petition on behalf of an artist and the agent/manager employs fewer than 25 employees, then the filing fee for an O-1 petition will be $830. Similarly, if a U.S. nonprofit serves as the petitioner, then the filing fee for an O-1 petition will be $530. HOWEVER, the new rule does not provide a reduction for business who have no employees at all or rely solely on independent contractors. For example, there are many bands, groups, agents/managers, and individual artists who have small or single member Limited Liability Companies with no employees or payrolls. Such entities are “small businesses,” but not “small employers.” Unless USCIS changes or qualifies this issue, then the filing fee for an O-1 petition filed by a petitioner with no employees at all would be $1655. We have no idea how or whether USCIS will address this.
Admittedly, the new fees are lower than the ones initially proposed by USCIS in January 2023. Additionally, it is clear that the remarkable response of the arts and entertainment industry in filing objections to the initial proposals resulted in USCIS creating fee reductions for U.S. nonprofits and “small employers” which were never in the initial proposals. So, please join me in offering a pifflingly lacklustre round of applause in gratitude for their largesse.
2. O-2, P-1S, and P-3S Petitions will be capped at 25 names per petition
This means that an orchestra or group such as The Rotten Legumes with 80 performers and 20 staff/crew would be required to file four petitions: three P-1 petitions for the performers and one P-1S petition for the staff/crew. Depending upon the status of the petitioner, this will cost either (i) $510 per petition, (ii) $810 per petition, or (iii) $1615 per petition.
3. USCIS will be issuing revised I-129 Petition Forms
According to the new rules, these forms must be used as of April 1, 2024 with no grace period. So, if you submit a petition with the old form on March 25 and it does not arrive at USCIS until April 2, they will reject it.
For a draft copy of the Revised Form I-129 CLICK HERE
For a table outlining the changes to the Form I-129 CLICK HERE
For a copy of the Revised Form I-129 Instructions CLICK HERE
EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 26, 2024
1. EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 26, 2024 Premium Processing will now cost $2805 per petition and will now take 15 business days instead of calendar days
This means that if The Rotten Legumes will need premium processing to accommodate a last minute booking at the Irma & Fern Nottefisch Centre for the Arts, then they would need to pay $2805 for each of their four petitions. Depending upon the status of petitioner, the total USCIS filing fees for their 4 petitions would either be (i) $13,260, (ii) $14,460, or (iii) $17,680.
As the PP fee is being raised to $2805 and not simply $2800, what is the extra $5 is for? Speculations include:
Shiny new tweezers for each examiner to pull the wings off butterflies.
Subsidies to keep endangered species on the menu in USCIS cafeteria, including their popular Tiger-Meat Taco Tuesdays.
Sequined U.S. flag underwear for each employee.
Arts advocates, service organizations, venues, and other arts professionals in the Performing Arts Visa Working Group, led by the League of American Orchestras, continue to perform an autopsy of the full 586 pages of the new rules. The League of American Orchestras will share further details and discoveries as they arise on the website: www.artistsfromabroad.org
In addition, USCIS will be hosting a webinar on February 22, 2024 from 2pm - 3pm Eastern Standard Time during which it will provide overview of how the new rules will be implemented and then inconsistently applied in practice. Questions must be submitted in advance by February 8, 4:00pm Eastern. CLICK HERE to sign up for more info.
In the meantime, USCIS has posted a summary of the changes HERE. Alternatively, if you are having trouble sleeping and have some experience with Byzantine regulatory language, you can read the entire new rule HERE.
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