If you are a UK or EU passport holder you can travel and work throughout Europe without restriction. However to work in many places outside of the EU you will need a VISA and possibly a WORK PERMIT. The most obvious example being bands and crew working in the USA.

USA - In order to perform for money in the USA you need a WORK VISA. In theory you can do the whole thing yourself but in practice you will generally use a specialist agent to help you (see below). In order to qualify for a US visa you will need to show you are an established artist, ie played lots of shows and have made records. If you can show this you can generally get a visa for up to 1 year or 3 years if you are well known. You will need to provide lots of back-up material. You must allow at least a month for the whole process, preferably longer. EU passport holders can enter the US as a tourist on the Visa Waiver programme.

Americans coming to England do not, at the moment, need Visas but they DO need work permits.

CANADA - the situation has changed, many venues in Canada are now work permit exempt, so if you don't need a visa to enter Canada you won't need a work permit. If you do need a visa and have all the correct back-up information they can normally be turned around in 4-5 days, but please beware it changes all the time and depends where you are when applying for it.

JAPAN, BRAZIL, SOUTH AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, CHINA, RUSSIA - for all these countries it will generally start with getting offers of employment from promoters in those countries, ie, invited by the promoter who will apply for a work permit in their relative country which will then be processed by the appropriate embassy in your home country. In Japan & Brazil the whole process generally takes around a month. Other South American countries vary as to the degrees of corruption of their governments, this also applies to other 3rd world countries.

SCHENGEN AGREEMENT - if you need a visa for any of the EU countries the Schengen Agreement means that the visa is good for all the other countries in the scheme, which is Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia Lituania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. It does NOT include the UK, Ireland and Switzerland.

2nd Passports, UK passport holders are allowed to hold 2 passports, this can be very useful if one of your passports is away at an Embassy having a visa applied for as Japanese & US Visas can take up to 5 days (to have your passport in their possession)

WORK PERMITS FOR ARTISTS COMING TO THE UK & EUROPE - in the first instance for all visa or work permit related enquiriese we recommend you contact Re-Production who will let you know your best plan of action. T&S Immigration Services, also handle music business' work permits for artists coming in to the UK and are very nice.

Most people from outside of Europe performing in Europe will need work permits. There are such things as work permit exempt events such as WOMAD.

NB: There have been discussions about whether US citizens need visas as well as work permits to come to the UK to make it the same as us going over there.

This is a very general overview and as stated above it is best to get specialist advice as rules and timings are constantly changing and the procedures complex and variable. However it generally all seems to work out in the end - so don't give up!

Comments (3)

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Friends To The Stars - Visas
written by Kirsty Booth, February 09, 2012

Hi, thanks for your input, the site you mention has lots of great info. We are of course aware of the anomaly in regard to the definition of 'work' and therefore always advise speaking to a specialist immigration attorney or visa agency. Here at FTTS we recommend Re-Production, a specialist rock'n'roll visa agency who we have used many times. They offer a great service with a friendly no commitment chat to get you on your way.
www.re-production.co.uk

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Arts & Entertainment Attorney/Artist Manager
written by Brian Taylor Goldstein, February 09, 2012

Hi

We help a lot of international artists who wish to tour the US. I noticed your website and thought I'd mention that, sadly, US Law requires a work visa even if an artist performs for free. There is a common misperception that UK artists only need to get work visas if they are paid. That's not true and more and more are getting turned away by US border trolls. Its worth checking out www.artistsfromabroad.org for more info on this.

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Chinese visas
written by Andy Corrigan, February 04, 2009

Doing some China visas for a band and noticed that they have abolished the 1 day service and now take a minimum of 3.

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