smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Jocelyn Geboy <smussyolay@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: Why we will not be attending IPO again this year :-( |
| Date | Tue, 17 Feb 2004 14:48:58 -0800 (PST) |
[Part 1 text/plain us-ascii (4.7 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
~~~~i am and have continued to be SO confused by this.
isn't the united states FRIENDLY with canada? since
when do we have to be afraid about musicians crossing
borders? i thought all you needed was an ID or
something. really. i don't get this. why canada? i'm
not thinking canadians really want to stay here....so
they can *not* get health insurance?
confused about -that- today,
jocelyn
np: the best of rick nelson
--- Jaimie Vernon <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Tuesday, February 17, 2004
>
> Cdn. musicians face border headaches
> By JOHN LEWANDOWSKI
> Canadian Press
>
> ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. -- Their music may transcend
> borders. But increasingly
> Canadian musicians are finding they do not.
>
> At least not without the right paperwork and even
> that's no guarantee.
>
> The new immigration and security demands imposed by
> a post 9-11 United
> States are making it harder for aspiring artists to
> build a profile south of
> the border.
>
> "We found it incredibly difficult. It's really
> hampered us to a great
> degree," said Craig Mercer, whose Jimmy Swift Band
> has just lined up a
> couple of U.S. club dates.
>
> "We find it very strange that American bands,
> members of the same union, can
> come up here with very little difficulty but bands
> from here are having a
> great deal of difficulty getting across the border,"
> said the Halifax-based
> guitarist and front man.
>
> While there's nothing straightforward about crossing
> the Canada-U.S border
> these days, officials from the American Federation
> of Musicians generally
> agree it's easier for Americans to play in Canada.
>
> As long as they've got signed contracts, their
> identification and criminal
> checks pan out, and Canadian officials don't feel
> they're taking work away
> from Canadian musicians, they're pretty much in.
>
> Corina Robidoux, a spokeswoman for the federation,
> works through the maze of
> immigration paperwork for all Canadian artists
> heading stateside.
>
> "You have to first have signed contracts with
> employers in the U.S. six to
> eight months in advance before you can even apply
> for a P-2 (a non-immigrant
> work permit)," she said from her Toronto office.
>
> Robidoux said even with the paperwork, which can
> take up to 150 days to
> process, there's no guarantee you'll get in.
>
> A lot of things factor in, not the least of which
> may be a border agent who
> doesn't like the look of the applicant.
>
> Ignoring the rules and trying to play without
> approval could carry a heavy
> price.
>
> "You'll be considered an illegal immigrant," says
> Robidoux. "Fines levied,
> vehicles and gear impounded and a ban from ever
> entering the U.S. again.
> It's not worth the gamble."
>
> Work permits can be expedited through a 15-day
> process that costs $1,000 US
> over and above the $130 US fee for the P-2
> application. But, again, all the
> U.S. immigration service will guarantee is a
> response within that time
> frame.
>
> The problem has already caused headaches for booking
> agent Joan Kirby of
> LiveTourArtists in Oakville, Ont.
>
> "It's very arbitrary. And I don't know how to combat
> it. It's hard enough to
> get the dates in the first place," she said, having
> just scrubbed some shows
> for one of her bands because the paperwork wasn't
> done in time.
>
> Kirby said she recently had one act show up at the
> border, paperwork in
> hand, only to be held up for no explainable reason.
>
> "I guess the woman that met them was unhappy to be
> up at 7:30 in the morning
> and proceeded to keep them there for four hours.
> They had all their
> paperwork. There was no reason to stop them," she
> said.
>
> One of Kirby's acts, blues artist Charlie A'Court,
> says it can be an
> attitude thing at the border.
>
> "You get there and maybe one of the customs officers
> is having a bad day and
> that gives them the green light to be arrogant
> sometimes," he said at the
> East Coast Music Awards. "Maybe it's just the look.
>
> "You know a guy with long hair, looks like a pot
> smoker", he laughs, his
> long blond mane tied back in a ponytail.
>
> "I've never done drugs in my life. I don't know what
> pot's like, except for
> maybe the smell of it at a Bob Dylan concert."
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
> Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months
> FREE*.
>
http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/features&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.