Since yesterday’s post, news of Becky Burke’s return to the U.K. has at least signalled the end of her detention by ICE, though in an ideal world she would have been neither detained nor forced to leave. As we now see everyday, however, such detentions and expulsions have become increasingly commonplace, making a knowledge of the intricacies of visa law a practical necessity for anyone in the international comics community considering a trip to the U.S.
For this and the following post, I want to provide a brief overview of the visas that many if not most comics creatives are likely to be using for the U.S. travel: the B-class non-immigrant visitor visas for business (B-1) and tourism (B-2), along with the Visa Waiver Program for travellers from select countries.
The names of the B-class visas are deceptively simple. It’s natural – but often incorrect – to assume that if you have a B-2 visa, you’re all clear for leisure travel so long so you are not also employed in a part-time or full-time U.S. job. Likewise, a business visa would seem to allow you to conduct all sorts of business – after all, that’s what it says on the tin. And as for the Visa Waiver Program – why, that would appear to mean you don’t need to be concerned about visa rules at all!
However, it’s important to remember that government categories aren’t subject to the Federal Trade Commission’s rules against misleading labels. For visas and visa waivers, the government makes you read the fine print.
Enforcement actions brought against comics creatives and others in the comics industry exemplify what can happen if the immigration and customs officials see what they consider to be a violation of visa rules.
–As we’ve now seen with the Burke detention and removal, the holder of B-2 tourist visa does not have to be formally employed with paychecks and paperwork to be seen as employed by ICE or even Canadian border officers.
–More comics specific, back in 2017, U.S. officials refused to allow a Canadian comics creator, Gisele Legace, from entering the country to attend C2E2.
–In addition to working for value and freelance sales, border officials have long taken action on the basis of comics content, as discussed in this fifteen-year-old CBLDF advisory on ICE searches of international travellers.
Recurring border incidents involving comics creators have on occasion led to the publication of brief summaries of visa categories for comic-con attendees, such as this San Diego law firm article (note the April date to give time for visa application processing by July), this Reddit r/comiccon post (prompted in part by the then-incoming Trump administration), and this 2017 (not a coincidence – see above) Anime Expo advisory on short-term international travel for Artist Alley exhibitors.
In my next posts in this series, I’ll take a deeper dive into the policy and practice for the B-class visas and visa waivers, from their approaches to compensated work and commercial transactions to the potential for content-based censorship.
This post isn’t the place for offering legal advice, so please consult an attorney for personally tailored assistance on visas and waivers for U.S. travel. I’ll be providing some resources for immigration attorneys in a future post, and I can also reach out to our CBLDF attorney volunteer network for possible assistance and referrals.