Category: Visas & Comics Creators

Visas and Comic-Cons: Free Speech and Paid Work

Snoopy from Peanuts typing "It was a dark and stormy night ..."

Attending a comic-con on a tourist visa or ESTA is a relatively low-risk endeavor for a fan with a hotel room who is just going to enjoy the experience. So long as you limit your activity to seeing panels and…

Visas and Comic-Cons: Visa ABCs

The recent detention of cartoonist Becky Burke and ongoing ICE raids exemplify the importance of understanding U.S. immigration law, which applies both to nonimmigrant temporary visitors and immigrants leaving their home countries to reside here permanently. The heightened degree of…

This Week: Visas and Comic-Cons

Cover of the book "Banned Book Club," with a person holding a book

Now that convention season is well underway, one of the most frequent questions we’ve been hearing here at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is whether it’s safe for creators from other countries to go to comic-cons in the U.S.…

Visas and Comics Creators, Pt. 2: B-1, B-2, Be Careful

Image of an online nonimmigrant visa application

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…

Visas and Comic Creators, Pt. 1

Border Patrol logo from the public domain 1951 Border Patrol comic book

The detention of cartoonist Becky Burke by U.S. immigration officials is a potent reminder of the complexity and rigor of U.S. visa laws.  We’re relieved to learn that her family has been able to secure legal assistance – we were…