P2 Visa Alert!
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We have recently learned of important changes to the P2 process that will affect our members. Up until now, once you submit your application for a P2 visa, you have been allowed to add more dates to your itinerary as long as they fell within the original time frame of the visa application. There was no specific limit on the number of dates that could be added — musicians only needed to send a copy of the contract to the Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM) office for their files.
Unfortunately, going forward, this will no longer be the case. The CFM office advises us that musicians will only be able to add a limited number of additional gigs to an existing P2 visa. The CFM will be handle this on a case-by-case basis, as each situation is different.
If you are adding dates to an existing P2 visa, or changing existing dates, you must contact Jill Leger or Kaitlyn Vleming at the CFM office and check whether your changes will be allowed under your existing P2 application or whether you will need to file an additional application.
We recognize this will alter how our Canadian members approach their US tour planning, and we wish the process was easier and more fair. But we don’t have much control over US government policy and procedures. We’d like to stress that the CFM office is working hard to be the best advocates they can be for you and your music. They are the experts who deal with hundreds of P2 visas every year, and this revision to the process is in response to a changing situation that they are monitoring closely.
Please feel free to contact the CFM office or your Local 1000 board members if you have questions or need more guidance.
In Solidarity,
Eve Goldberg, President
Kev Corbett, Vice President From Canada
CFM contacts:
Jill Léger: jleger@afm.org, 416-391-5161 (toll free: 1 800 463-6333) ext. 222.
Kaitlyn Vleming: kvleming@afm.org, 416-391-5161 (toll free: 1 800 463-6333) ext. 234.
Local 1000 contacts:
Kev Corbett, VP from Canada: vicepresidentcanada@local1000.org, 902-403-5150
Eve Goldberg, President: president@local1000.org, 416-807-1299