Crossing Over: Understanding the plight of immigrant performers

Do you feel you were adequately prepared for how difficult the visa application process would be?

Yi Liu: No. And you could never be prepared enough. … I went to New York Film Academy for a year. … I remember there was one class, the introduction of what we need to do with our OPT (Optional Practical Training). … And they gave us a list of lawyers and consultants, but that’s about it. In terms of more details about how to prepare for an O1 and what you need to do, no, that was not covered.

Yuyu Kitamura: I studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. … And the actual preparation for when we graduate was, I would say, sparse. We had seminars where they brought in lawyers who could explain the process. But the entirety of it felt very distant. It felt more like an obligation that the school had to provide. … When I personally asked for specific resources, specific questions to be answered, it really never was answered, or they suggested to just go to one of these seminars, as if that would just explain everything.

Tara Tan: I knew you needed a strong portfolio to demonstrate that you are a person of extraordinary ability in the arts. … But, you know, it’s kind of tough, because there are some loopholes and hurdles that stand in your way that they don’t tell you about.

Yan Ying Sim: NYU prepares you for the OPT, and they help you get started on that end. But it’s kind of like, after that you’re on your own. It’s up to you to figure it out.

Non Kuramoto: I went to Northeastern University in Boston. I don’t know how well they prepared their students. … I did have to do a lot of the legwork on my own.

What was your visa application experience like?

Yi Liu: A regional petition was filed maybe five years ago. … At that time, I hired a lawyer to do this, and I’m glad that I went for a lawyer. Of course, you can finish all the process by yourself, but in the end, my petition wound up being 1000 pages long. … So I filed my petition, and waited for about two months. And then I heard back. I got approval.

Yuyu Kitamura: In order to apply for the O1 B, which is specifically for film and television, you are required to provide a sufficient amount of evidence to showcase that you have extraordinary talent in the arts. … On top of that, you also need to provide a 3-year plan. You need recommendations from people of value; people in the field that can speak on your behalf and showcase your talent. … But the perception of immigration has changed so much that it’s fed into a domino effect into the industry, where, if you are not from America, there’s this idea that you suddenly become a nuisance, or you are more paperwork. You’re something that they have to deal with, which I’ve been told.

Tara Tan: I was on OPT from 2018 until 2019. During that period of time, I was considering applying for the artist visa. … I did a lot of research, and assessed whether my portfolio was enough. I consulted a lawyer, but ultimately came to the decision that it would not be something I would be pursuing. … Those lawyer fees can be pretty hefty.

Yan Ying Sim: I was previously in the process of applying for an H1B1, which is a specialty occupation visa. I was working with an arts organization. It didn’t quite work out with the whole COVID situation and, of course, with the Trump administration. … The hardest part is securing deal memos or contracts, proof of hiring for the next three years, or however long it is you want your visa to be. That’s especially difficult for a freelance theater artist like me, because people don’t plan three years ahead. … But you just gotta try and find it anyway. 

Non Kuramoto: For me, personally, I got my Green Card through marriage. Simply put, I was lucky enough to be in a relationship with someone who wanted to marry me. … But the whole time, I would talk to my friends, who had been married, like, 10 years ago, and they would be like, the process took like six months for my visa to be approved. It’s super chill. So I started the process. … It took two years for my immigration status to stabilize.

As an artist, do you feel like your visa status held you back? As an example, have you ever faced discrimination within the professional entertainment industry because of your visa status?

Yi Liu: There’s one agency, I emailed them my material, introduced myself, and it looked like they were interested in me. … But when we called they said, “Hey, we looked through your material. We’re interested. But let me ask you this question first. Are you currently on a Green Card?” And I said, “No, I have an O1 visa.” And then they said, “Okay, I’m sorry, but we have to stop here because we can only work with people who have Green Cards.” … So this is what I learned from SAG-AFTRA, the actor’s union, any question during the casting process relating to ethnicity, background, age, and visa status, you’re not supposed to ask.

Yuyu Kitamura: I mean, people have refused to even see me for meetings to have representation in the past. … Producers have told me, and I’ve been told by agents that if I had auditioned for that role, they don’t think it’d be right because they would have to deal with more paperwork.

Tara Tan: I did face some discrimination from some of the bigger budget TV production companies. After they find out that you’re on OPT, they drop you. They can’t cover you if they want a recurring character on their show. There’s too much paperwork.

Yan Ying Sim: In the arts administration job, my day job I was working at from late 2019 to May 2020, I had to leave because of visa issues. The company said they would be able to support me at first, but then it turns out they couldn’t. … In terms of the theater industry, well, because the circles that I run in are in downtown New York, they’re really more progressive … But I do know certain spaces in the theater industry that are less accepting. I’ve been to those spaces. Not often, but there are times that I’ve been in a space and they don’t welcome me. They barely see me. They don’t know what to do with someone who’s international.

Non Kuramoto: I was so broke for the first two years I lived in New York. I couldn’t work. And so I would apply to jobs, because people would say, “you’re supposed to receive your work authorization within three months of applying.” … But the process was so prolonged that I didn’t receive my work authorization until after a year and a half of being here. So I would just keep applying for jobs in the hope that my work authorization would arrive. … And then I would get to the final interview and then they would be like, “What’s your status?” And I’d be like “Um … I’m supposed to have my work authorization soon.” And they’d be like, “Oh, that’s a bummer. We actually can’t hire you anymore.”

How have the Trump administration’s policies, like the now rescinded directive to prevent international students from taking all their classes online, impacted you, as an immigrant?

Yi Liu: I was shocked. It put uncertainty on my mind. So far my status has not been affected. O1 visa wasn’t one of the visas they listed for suspension or delay or anything. But I just feel like it could be in the near future. I don’t know what’s going to happen. For example, lots of the consulates outside the U.S. closed. That really makes it hard to travel. If I go anywhere and I want to come back, and the consulate is closed, how can I do it?

Yuyu Kitamura: I came in when it was the Obama Administration. And I think once Trump was elected, there was definitely a shift in terms of the perception of immigration, the perception of not being from America. And that leant itself to acts of racism that we see a lot more than I would like to think would happen five or six years prior.

Tara Tan: When Trump became president in 2016, you know, it really shook America. This was before I was actively pursuing the visa, but this really exposed these anti-immigrant sentiments that had been long harboring. When you have a president who emboldens people to be xenophobic, and to hurl abusive phrases like “go back to your country,” who talks down on a foreign language film for winning an Academy Award, it’s clear that the climate can be hostile. And I was not aware of these things before.

Yan Ying Sim: It scares me when I read the news. Most of the fear comes from talking to friends. Because I know someone who waited, like, 11 months to get her O1 renewed. And it’s not even a first-time application. It’s a renewal, which is generally a much faster process. But she still had to wait 11 months. So she was out of status for a while. And I know someone else who was affected by the pausing of the expedited application process. I think because of COVID-19, they stopped expediting the 15-day application process for a while. 

Non Kuramoto: I got married in 2017. It was right after Trump was elected. And that was like a big, dark cloud looming over every aspect of it. … So I was just really worried the whole time. Because I had this feeling of, if I mess up, if I, like, spell something wrong, or any little thing will totally fuck me over. I’m pretty sure that level of paranoia was multiplied by knowing that Trump was president. During the time that I was going through that process, the government shut down multiple times so that definitely caused delays for everyone. 

Given how difficult it is to acquire a visa, have you considered alternative options, such as returning to your birth country, moving to another nation, or getting married?

Yi Liu: Of course I’ve thought about that. Especially with the current policies that they changed so fast, I just don’t feel that welcome. … It’s hard to make a decision to just go somewhere else. I’ve been here for six years. This is a huge chunk of time.  So it would be very hard to make such a decision. It would involve much planning. Even if I were to just go back to China. I can’t just buy a ticket and go. What am I going to do with my current apartment, my stuff? How am I going to say goodbye to my friends?

Yuyu Kitamura: At this point I’ve been here for five years, so a lot of my growing up has been in New York. So I feel like New York is my home at this point. It’s where I found myself as a young woman. It’s where I found my artistic drive again. … And so I think about going home, and I think about my roots here, and it’s this push and pull of where I can still be learning and still be giving back to the industry. Hence why I want to stay in the States. There is a market for me here that hasn’t been delved into, whereas, maybe, in another country, I don’t have the same roots or the same education. 

Tara Tan: I know that, in America, it’s not an easy feat to acquire the artist’s visa. And I also know that sometimes the scene here in the U.S. may be more colorful than it is back home for some people. … Wherever you choose to make art, it comes down to community, no matter which city or country you’re in. You can make a difference and work within the constraints of your location.

Yan Ying Sim: My eventual goal is not to stay here, and just here. I would love to shuttle back and forth from Singapore to the U.S., and make works in both places

Non Kuramoto: I had spent more time of my life in America than in Japan at the time I started the process. … I’ve been here. I’ve put in my time. I paid my dues. And there was this other part of me that was just like, I got married to this person, and it’s equally difficult in Japan for someone to get permanent residency. And I was like, “I started this process here. If I give up in the middle now, for my partner and I to stay together, they would have to go through the process in Japan.”

What advice would you give other people, who are considering, or just starting, the application process?

Yi Liu: 5 years ago, I was told I would never be able to get an O1 visa so better get married. But hey, today, I am still not married and I have my O1 visa for the second time. (I guess finding a husband is just that hard). So don’t be scared away. Keep track of your achievements. The process is tedious and if someone has no experience then it’s really hard. But sometimes what we have achieved was actually great.

Yuyu Kitamura: Start early. The sooner you understand how the system works, the sooner you can prepare yourself for that. … You also want to collaborate with as many different creatives as you can. When you’re collaborating with people, you’re creating a sense of community, and that community can go a long way.

Tara Tan: Do your research early if you’re really keen on pursuing the artist visa. You’ll need to work hard to secure maybe that one big project with that high profile company or director. … But once you get that out of the way, don’t lose sight of who you are as an artist, and don’t let this visa thing strip away the joy of making art.

Yan Ying Sim: I would say, to really pause and sit down and think about what you really want, because a lot of people are fixated on the idea of the O1. … But there are also, like we said in our conversation, exciting things, artistically or otherwise, and happening in other parts of the world. … So yeah, try hard. Work to get it. Be diligent about putting yourself out there. … But also, if you don’t get the visa, it’s not the end of the world.

Non Kuramoto: One thing that really helped me was reaching out to a bunch of different people who went through similar processes. Especially since each visa is different. … It’s really easy to feel like you’re going through this super difficult process alone. So it’s good to be reminded, “I’m doing the right thing. It’s Okay.”