A question about visas and sponsorship.

Brisea

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A friend of mine has been asking about the possibility of an agent sponsoring him for an artist's visa. My feeling on it was that this seems incredibly unlikely -- at least for a completely unknown author. (I don't know much about the process of getting an artist's visa, but from the research I *have* done, it seems pretty complex and like it would be much more of a hassle than an agent would want to go through, if it's even possible.)

He keeps asking, however, and my belief that it wouldn't work isn't a solid enough answer for him -- so I thought I'd put the question out there, to see if anyone knows more than I do about it. Does anyone know? Am I correct here?
 

veinglory

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And under what kind of Visa, P...1? Generally your sponsor is your employer, paying you a set salary. P visas are generally just temporary, for an event.
 
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Brisea

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QoS: Yes, the U.S. -- he's actually living here now, and his student visa is up, which is why he's trying to go this route.

Veinglory: An artist's visa, I guess. (Not a work visa.)
 

veinglory

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Well, he would need to be an internationally-recognised or cultural unique entertainer. That is not exactly a low bar.
 

Brisea

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Hmmm. Well, he's definitely not that! Thanks. :)
 

Mr. Anonymous

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his best bet for staying here would be to find a job in the U.S.
 

Diana_Rajchel

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An artist's visa is highly unlikely. If he did get a job, his employer would need to demonstrate that no one else can do the job that he does. It's a massive amount of work that takes years, and it's unlikely he'll resolve it quickly. It's also doubtful his agent would want to take on the risk of sponsoring his citizenship - it involves showing you have the income to support that person if s/he can't find employment. (I worked in an international student office at a university a long time ago. This came up a lot. The laws probably changed when I blinked, too.)
 

aekap

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As an aside, I remember hearing that the producers of "Lost" nearly had to re-cast Evangeline Lilly's character, because she was getting having such a hard time getting her visa. And she already had the job offer in hand.

But I don't think this could be done by an agent in any case... it would have to be an employer.
 

Becca_H

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I briefly looked into this a while ago out of curiosity. I think, to be honest, the easiest way into the US by writing is to make $1 million from the fiction, and use it for an Investor Visa in another industry - buying or starting a business.

Sounds hard, but I think it's the easiest - and only - way.

There is a visa for film/TV, but as the above poster said, even Lost had problems.