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.
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.
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