Email to 2009 tour concert promoters/producers
Greetings to all Druha Trava's gig producers and promoters (and a few interested others besides),
I want to describe to you what has been going on re: Druha Trava and USCIS. It seems so ridiculous that this band, who performed for an hour at Prague Castle before President Obama's speech there last April, are having such a hard time getting visa approval this year (especially after getting visas every year since 1993, except last year when we canceled the tour before we even filed for visas).
I first FedExed Druha Trava's visa petition on Friday, May 15 this year and I got notification that USCIS received it on Monday, May 18 with Receipt Number: WAC0916351796. According to the USCIS website it should take two months or less to process I-129 petitions for P-1 visas. I have been eagerly awaiting an approval notice since mid July.
On Tuesday, August 18 I received a letter from USCIS detailing more information and documentation that they wanted, including signed contracts for all booked gigs (I have been signing the papers that lawyers have been filing on my/Druha Trava's behalf since 2004 and I've never before had to provide signed contracts for every single gig, just for a representative number of them, but this is the first time I have filed by myself, as DT's
beloved friend, Mary Gardner, who for a dozen years gather materials and paid the lawyers on our behalf, died of cancer last year) I spent over 8 hours on Tuesday contacting those of you that I hadn't gotten signed contracts from and gathering old promo (to document that DT has existed for more than one year), getting those faxed to me, making duplicate copies of contracts and promo, and FedExed it all back to USCIS overnight. What I sent originally in May was exactly what the lawyers sent in 2007, plus an additional article from New York Times. I sent a whole lot more this past Tuesday and FedEx reported it was delivered at 9:44AM on the 19th. Today I received an email that they had received the papers yesterday (the 20th) and "reopened" the case.
In the meantime, I contacted my Senator Al Franken's office and Greg Buhr of his office sent me this report today:
I left a detailed message yesterday urging this get done. I’ve called again
today and held for 55 minutes before speaking with the liaison. The
Congressional Liaison acknowledged the receipt of the material and confirmed
it was on the adjudication officers desk. He was going to message the
officer again about the importance of this petition. He also indicated that
assuming the petition can be approved, they would email the post abroad the
same day. I’ll check in again on Monday and let you know if I hear anything,
and ask you to let me know if you hear anything.
So I have some hope. I have also contacted MN US Representative Keith Ellison's office and so has a good friend who has worked with his office in her work and has been helping me to promote the Minneapolis concerts (only two weeks away).
Perhaps those of you who are so moved could also contact your US Representative's office and ask them to please encourage USCIS to get this
processed so we don't have to cancel your concerts.
Basically we need the visa petition approved ASAP. The best would be if DT could go to Prague next Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday (24th-26th) for interviews. They are touring Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia and head home to pack on the 31st, as they are scheduled to fly out of Vienna on September 1st. If it is approved by this Monday or Tuesday, then they could interview on Wednesday. The last chance would be for the approval to come through on Friday, the 28th, so that they could interview on the 31st (though that means a 1-3 hour one way drive to Prague plus return trip home for each of them the day before they fly out ).
I will keep you all posted. If I get notification of visa approval, I will immediately let you all know. Otherwise you will all hear from me late on the 28th (the 28th is my 38th wedding anniversary and I'll be out for supper and the evening) or the 29th with sad news of cancelling the tour.
So that's the story. I just want to be open and honest with all of you.
Bea Flaming