Hoops and Hurdles

I'm trying to find a suitable time for the Brazilian guitarist to visit Australia.

When we had to cancel the April tour, he suggested a July visit.  I doubted that we could get the visa by then, and also it would be winter time here and pretty cold and miserable weather.  I looked at my commitments for the rest of the year and thought we might be able to do it by November.  Any later and we would run into the busy Christmas season, making it hard to draw an audience.  January in Australia is hopeless because everyone's away at the beach (it's like August in Europe).  Then in February comes the Fringe Festival leading into Mad March, when there's so much happening that it's hard to get accommodation and even harder to get anyone to attend, due to the large number of public events on offer.

It becomes clear that a November concert will not happen.  We're still no closer to getting a visa.   

I begin to consider the merits of putting the show into the Fringe in February.  It will mean competing for audience, but on the flip side, it will give us publicity through being advertised in the Fringe brochure, which is widely distributed.  The Fringe also provides ticketing, which would be simpler than dealing direct with the ticket agency.  If we are on early in the festival, perhaps we can draw a crowd.

He has gone quiet, and I begin to wonder if he is still interested.

But one night on Facebook he sends me a song - he's recorded himself singing and playing one of the songs we intend to perform together.  My heart leaps with optimism.

Returning from a holiday, before I leave the airport, I imagine seeing him enter the arrivals area.  That night, I dream that I am greeting him.  I am shaking his hand and helping him with his luggage.  The dream is vivid.  I feel a surge of determination.  I am going to make this happen.

His agent is dealing with the visa application.  I don't know what's holding things up.  Then he emails me and the agent to say that he can't provide the financial records that are required.  He will have to collect them over the next six months.  This is the last straw for me.  Why does he have to provide income details?  I have been approved as his Sponsor and I'm paying for everything.  It's a one-week trip.  Why do they need to know his financial status?  I email the Department.

The case officer replies that income details are not required in this case.  I forward this response to the agent in Brazil.  There is no reason why we can't submit the application.

Eventually his migration agent emails both of us to say that his application is ready.  The application fee is US$360.  That sounds like a lot for someone in Brazil.  I had sworn that I would not spend any more money until I sighted the visa, but I can see I need to drive this process.  I don't want any more delays.  I tell them that I will pay, even though it wasn't part of our agreement.

The agent asks me to send the money in $US to his bank account in Brazil.  I go online and try to make the transfer, but I don't have enough bank details.  And I start to imagine the swath of fees and taxes that will be incurred in converting Australian dollars to US dollars and back again.  Surely there's a simpler way?

I email the Department and they tell me that I can submit the application in Australia and they will invoice me in Australian dollars.  Hooray!  This is more like it.

In fact I find that the staff at the Immigration Department are really very good to deal with.  They respond promptly to my inquiries and provide good explanations of what is required.  It is so much easier when you both speak the same language.

I re-book the two venues.  They offer me prime time-slots, on the first weekend of the Fringe.

Finally all is ready.  The agent sends me all the documents by email and I print them out.

The application form is full of errors and omissions.  I work through the document carefully, checking each item and correcting things.

Then I forward all the documents to the Department by email.

Immediately I receive an automated response -  " Your submission is invalid.  You cannot submit your application by email - you must submit it by mail, by courier, in person or by fax."

So now I fax the document, page by page.  There are 37 pages in total.

Then I go around to the Post Office and mail it by Express Post.

When I return to the office, there is an email from the Department.  They have received the application.  But there are still five issues that I need to address.

Busting the red tape

September 2014.

It's been nearly a year since I invited the Brazilian guitarist to come to Australia to rehearse and perform with me.  He should have been here in April of this year, but he could not obtain his visa in time.

Six months later, we still don't have the visa.

To obtain a Short Stay Business (Entertainment) Visa is a three-stage process:
1. Sponsorship
2. Nomination
3. Visa Application.

Who would have imagined such red tape?

In March, after cancelling the show, I mailed my application for approval as an entertainment sponsor on a Thursday, by overnight Express Post.

On the Monday I received an email acknowledging receipt of my application.

And on the Tuesday morning another email arrived - "Your notice of approval is attached".  Suddenly, I was an Entertainment Sponsor.

Remarkably, this approval took just one business day.

Next, I emailed the Department dealing with the Nomination Process, giving my sponsorship ID number, so they could link the two applications which had to be sent to two different places.

As required, I contacted the Australian Musicians Union.  I must demonstrate that no Australian musicians will be disadvantaged as a result of the foreign musician's visit.

But their response was that they cannot endorse a tour where the artist is not getting paid.

This reaction came as a surprise to me.  Payment was not part of my original offer to Eneias.  I was not refusing to pay him, but I thought that he would not be allowed to earn money in Australia.  I asked the Union representative how much I was required to pay.  He sent me a baffling list of performance fees and allowances, and fortunately also added it up for me.  The total was a very small amount of money.  It seemed a paltry sum.  I decided to increase it to a more respectable amount.

Meanwhile, Eneias had gone quiet.  I kept on seeing his posts announcing where he was playing - restaurants, bars, the public library.  He hadn't contacted me for a while.  I began to wonder if he had cooled on the idea of coming to Australia.  But then he emailed me attaching my letter of invitation, which he had signed.  We had a friendly exchange on Facebook, both saying how much we were looking forward to his visit.

Soon after, a lady from Immigration calls, from the Department handling the Nomination process.  She tells me I must be approved as an Entertainment Sponsor.  I explain I have already been approved, and give her my ID number.  She punches it into the system, and says "Ah, there you are!".  Hooray!  I'm official.  "Where is the visa application?" she asks.  Eneias' migration agent in Brazil needs to lodge it.  I've proposed a September date.  She says "This is a nice early application."  Good.

The same day, I receive a certificate of endorsement from the Australian Musicians Union.  They are willing to approve the "tour".

We're almost in business.

But months go by, and still his visa application is not ready.