It just got more expensive for artists to tour the US thanks to Trump
When an artist wants to tour the US, there’s a lot of preliminary paperwork, not least of which involves applying for special visas. In 2024, the US bumped things up. The old application fee was US$460 per person. It is now between US$1,615 and US$1,655 per person, regardless of the size of your group and your commercial popularity. You have to apply months in advance and if you’re denied, there’s no refund.
Needless to say, this is a huge burden and disincentive for any foreign act (especially the small and medium ones) to play in the US. It’s insane, especially considering that many countries (including Canada) don’t have any reciprocal visa fees for touring musicians. And US visa regulations are already very complicated. There are at least 185 different types of visas.
This map from Wikipedia shows which countries must have visas for entry.
It just got worse, too.
Deep inside Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill are provisions for something called a “visa integrity fee” of US$250, which applies to nonimmigrant visas to the US. There’s an addition fee–Form I-94 fee–that runs US$24.
The measure affects the visas musicians are required to have in order to tour the US. It will also affect tourists, international students, workers, and business people.
Nice one, Trump. Can’t wait for the World Cup and the Olympics. That’ll be fun.
