ProgPower USA: The Visa Madness

I have been the most straight shooting promoter on the planet for 25 years now. If there is an issue that could affect you, I'm going to tell you about it as soon as possible and hide nothing. The chaotic band visa application process has hit me once again.

There are two USCIS visa application centers: California and Vermont. Historically, the petitioner's state residence dictates where to file the application. The rule of thumb is Vermont takes 2-4 months to process while California can take up to 6 months. As a result, I went from applying in March to January as of last year. The process has changed again and now all applications go to a distribution center in Texas first, that in turn, assigns them to either processing center based on their own private criteria. However, I still managed to get all of mine to Vermont last year and had zero stress. I repeated the exact same steps this year.

California recently raised their processing time to 10 months in early January. Their website now states "80% of all cases are processed within 8 months." That means 20% do not even have a expected completion date. Vermont's current processing time remains 2 months. I can now confirm that all of my visa applications for Friday & Saturday bands (8 bands, 2 crew) went to the California processing center. My immigration attorney's opinion is it will take the full 8 months to process without an expedite filing.

I played by the rules, planned and budgeted accordingly, and then the rules changed mid-game.

The additional cost to expedite processing for a single band is $2,800. That is not in the budget. I am a DIY Festival. I created this festival 25 years ago as a fan and have ran it as a fan ever since. I have no corporate sponsors or investment partners. I can take the loss on one or two applications, but not ten. The brutal reality is I cannot afford $28,000 and would have no choice but to cancel bands and look for alternatives that do not require visas or already have them in place. The longer I wait, the harder it is to replace bands with the type of bands you expect to see in Atlanta. I ran into this similar situation once in the past on a smaller scale and the ProgPower USA family came to my rescue. I humbly ask for your assistance again now.

For those wondering, I have already spent $32,000 on visa applications this year and have another $10,000 in the budget to pay for the consul interviews after receiving the approvals. It is going to cost $70,000 total to bring in 8 international bands for U.S. exclusive performance this year as a result of USCIS processing delays beyond my control. That includes professional & legal fees (industry standard rates), union fees, USCIS application fees, and consul interviews fees.

Regardless of the outcome and amount raised, I'm 100% committed to giving you the best roster I can this fall and my last one in 2026.

Glenn

Glenn Harveston

Promoter & Owner

ProgPower USA

www.progpowerusa.com