“Our visas have not materialised and we have been informed by US Immigration that we cannot perform without them,” reads a band communiqué. “We’ve exhausted every avenue possible to expedite them to no avail.”
Gigs the band have as a result had to cancel include Saturday night’s New York benefit in Webster Hall for the Barretstown respite camp in Kildare for children with serious illnesses. It's still going ahead though with Tommy Tiernan topping the bill.
On a more upbeat note, the seasoned popsters add: "Our visas will come through eventually and we will be back in the near future."
With no clearly outlined parameters for obtaining one, the granting of US artists’ visas is an extremely haphazard affair.
“We were told we had to send copies of 30 interviews, reviews or mentions that had appeared in ‘prominent’ Irish publications,” the singer with a well-known group tells us. “Another band applying a few weeks after weren’t asked to send any clippings. If there was a ‘Ten Things You Need To Provide’ checklist, fine, but you’re operating in the dark in terms of what they want.”
The issue was highlighted a few years ago at the Hot Press Music Show by musician and journalist John Robb who together with the Musicians ‘ Union, the Association of Independent Musicians, the Association of British Orchestras and assorted politicians was running a campaign to make it easier for UK artists to secure visas.
"In the past few years the American visa situation has tightened up and become far more expensive,” Robb said at the time. “We have a situation where getting a British group into America can cost up to £2,700, and that’s not counting travel and accommodation expenses for bands outside London who have to travel for the 8am London American Embassy interview.
“The forms that have to be filled in are very difficult to understand and lots of money has to be spent on an American agency processing the forms. There have been endless examples of British bands, some very high profile, having to reschedule or cancel tours in the last year. And if an application fails, they don't get any of the money back.”
Despite much petitioning of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US Embassy, the situation for UK acts – and by extension Irish ones – remains unchanged.