Music unites the world. Even Indians and Pakistanis who are traditional rivals put their differences aside when it comes to appreciating musicians across the border. The way Pakistani’s listen and appreciate music of RD Burman or Kishore Kumar, Indians also appreciate the music of Ghulam Ali or the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The expatriate community of South Asians in USA have had the unique opportunity to enjoy live music shows of musicians from South Asia thanks to the P-3 visa. P-3 visas are for musicians from non-US countries who want to perform culturally unique program in USA. I just gave the example of musicians from the sub-continent but the use of P-3 by musicians to perform in USA from all over the world holds true.
India is culturally so unique with so many ethnicities, languages and religion. There are more than hundred unique music / dance forms and each of them culturally unique ranging from Carnatic music, Hindustani music, Sufi music, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Mohini Aattam and Kathakali. There are hundreds of musical instruments ranging from Sitar, Veena, Violin, Sarangi, Mridangam, Tabla, Dholak to name a few. There are also the film industries in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai with industries like Bollywood or Tollywood which also churns out music which are culturally unique to those states and appreciated by audiences speaking Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Kannada. Over the years there are hundreds of musicians who have entertained people in US soil with their culturally unique art form through the P-3 visa. Not only to artists from India, the P-3 visa has been widely used by artists all over the world to come and entertain and expose the US population to culturally unique art forms.
So, you are a performing artist outside USA and you perform something which is culturally unique and you want to come to USA. How do you go about?
First, you need to find a sponsoring organization in USA. There are more than hundreds of organizations in USA which are made of people from a particular community or country whether it be Indian Americans or Filipinos or Russians. Even religious institutions like churches, temples or mosques try to organize cultural events. All these organizations from time to time try to get musicians or dancers to perform in USA. So, you need to be in touch with these types of organization so that you or your group can be considered for a P-3 visa by way of sponsorship. Over the years we have worked with many such cultural organizations and religious institutions who organize performances by artists for sake of US audience. Even schools teaching music and dance, sponsor artists to come and perform in USA jointly with their students. Sometimes they want musicians to come and perform for plays or for dance performance. So, the first step is to connect with someone in USA who can sponsor you for the P-3 visa.
Once you found a sponsoring organization you will have to negotiate your wages for performing in USA. Then, the sponsoring organization will finalize the itinerary so that the schedule and venue of performance are decided. USCIS will expect that P-3 petitions are supported by agreement with host organizations in different cities and with theaters / schools where the auditoriums will be rented.
Before filing of P-3 petition with USCIS, an advisory opinion from an artists union relating to the performing artists is required. For musicians we get an advisory opinion from American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).
P-3 petitions are filed for a duration not more than one year with USCIS with names of all artists, details of what they will performing, listing of venues and detailed profile of all the artists including support documents like certificates and news articles that review the performance of artists. Is it really required that all these artists must produce news articles on their performance? No. It will help but as far as we can prove by way of some letters or certificates that the artist will be performing culturally unique program, it is good enough to satisfy USCIS. So, it is not important that the artist has to be famous in their field. For artists who are famous by way of winning major awards qualify for visa like O-1. For P-3 there is no such requirement. P-3 can also include training workshops, rehearsals and activities are not limited to performance.
Once the P-3 is approved the artists will have to apply to the US Consulate for the visa. Typically, when an organization applies for P-3 they try to have a buffer between your arrival to USA and the performance so that you have sufficient time to settle down before performance. You can also obtain a visa a lot earlier than the P-3 start date, but you cannot enter USA more than 10 days before the actual start date on the P-3 approval.
For any artist it should be an amazing experience to come and perform in USA and P-3 visa acts as a perfect vehicle. Law firms can play a unique role in positioning the artists right way in P-3 applications and avoid delay or save costs relating to Request for Evidence (RFE). Strategizing a P-3 petition can make or break a case. When you are dealing with different entities like host organizations, venues, and famous artists you don’t want to take a chance. Lawyers will provide advice as to how multiple groups or artists can be part of one petition or what kind of petitions are required for support personnel. So, venture out on doing a P-3 but plan it properly by getting the right legal advice.
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