ARTISTS BEWARE

Thus year i was invited to tell stories at the Moonshell International Story Festival…   Yipeeeeee!  

And also to do readings and workshops in Des Moines…   Fabuloso!

You must get a TIN number (Income tax cert)… Okay.

But you must have a visa to get it… Okay.

I got my regular visitor’s visa.

And here comes the first problem.   U.S. immigration are  stopping artists with visitor visas at Dublin Airport and refusing to allow them board the plane.   If you’re going to earn any money you’ve got to get a Temporary non-Immigrant Visa… Okay.

This process is entirely done on line and is Byzantine in it’s complexity.

There is no way you can get help.   You cannot:

Telephone the U.S. Embasssy

E-mail the U.S. Embassy

Call in to the U.S.Embassy.

Your sponsor also has to fill in forms and provide information.

A crucial piece of info that your sponsor must provide is a letter of agreement from the relevant Union (writers/ artists/musicians/screenwriters )

My sponsor had me down as a Storyteller and she informed them that there is NO union of Storytellers.

The application was turned down.

So, Artists in general, and Storytellers in particular, be forewarned.