'An Unbelievable Mess': Artists Are Stymied by Trump Travel Bans "It's completely hopeless now to tour in the U.S.," [View all]

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‘An Unbelievable Mess’: Artists Are Stymied by Trump Travel Bans
Musicians, theater groups and others from overseas are facing visa challenges and rising costs, posing a looming crisis for the performing arts sector.

In November, agents for the Grammy-winning African guitar band Tinariwen booked the group on an extensive North American tour for this year, and began to prepare their visa applications.

But by December, those plans were dashed when the Trump administration announced travel restrictions on 19 countries, including Mali, where most of Tinariwen’s members are from. The tour, set for theaters and clubs throughout the United States and Canada, was canceled, and Patrick Votan, the group’s manager, said he had no expectation that anything would change in the near future.

“It’s completely hopeless now to tour in the U.S.,” Votan said in an interview. “There’s not really any solution to come back again.”



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In an additional complication for performers, the processing of petitions by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or U.S.C.I.S. — the first step in most performers’ visa application process, has become much more strict. According to one recently instituted rule, the agency is now putting a “hold” on its processing if an applicant was born in any of the 40 or so countries targeted by the administration, regardless of where an applicant has citizenship.

But for foreign artists and the American producers who are looking to work with them, these changes are beginning to wreak havoc. Last week, the Under the Radar theater festival in New York announced it had canceled an event, just days before its intended presentation, that was expected to be one of its highlights this year: “12 Last Songs,” an immersive performance by the British troupe Quarantine, which the festival was presenting in cooperation with La MaMa and the Working Theater.

The group’s visas have not been approved. Tommy Kriegsmann, the festival’s co-producer, said in an interview that no explanation had been given, but the festival’s lawyer believed it was because two crew members — both British citizens and passport holders, Kriegsmann said — were born in Nigeria. That could have triggered the agency pause, since Nigeria is one of the countries with partial restrictions by the administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/arts/music/trump-visas-touring-musicians.html