‘Don’t pressure musicians’ - Queen Ifrica says visa fee increase is ‘unfair’

Queen Ifrica is disgruntled at the decision made by the United States Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS) for a visa fee increase for international artistes.

She told THE WEEKEND STAR that this increase is an excessive burden on musicians and a restriction for artistes to earn more while spreading the music.

"Because dem know musicians out fi mek money yah now man. Pressure dem a pressure music but it naah guh work because music alone shall live, enuh. Because if yuh ago pressure music like dat wid an increase, are you very serious about dat now?" she questioned.

"[As] musicians, a work wi work too yuh zimmie, not because after we finish after a hour or suh, yuh feel good - it's work. A work we work to give yuh dat feeling, suh when yuh work like dat, dem shudda mek it easy fi musicians fi travel di worl' wid ease, especially from Jamaica with a high frequency music. Musicians supposed to have easy access to travel. We bring music to the places where a lot of pain and anguish is and when di musicians turn up, di people dem show up. Suh if yuh ago guh suh hard on musicians, what's the point?" she reasoned.

The US Embassy in Kingston recently shared that effective April 1, the USCIS adjusted the fees required for most immigration applications and petitions. For O petitions, the basic fee increased from US$460 to US$1,055. For P petitions, the basic fee increased from US$460 to US$1,015. Most entertainers travel to the US on either O or P visas.

Queen Ifrica added that this was bad timing to slap artistes with high charges in order to travel because the entertainment industry is still recovering after the pandemic.

"It's unfair inna every language man, and even if it wasn't just musicians, but fi everyone weh a travel fi hear seh fees double just fi get one visa fi move, is like yuh a try fi restrict people. That's not encouraging people to move around at all," the artiste added. She suggested that a sense of unity and shared assistance must be exercised by more established artistes in order to create opportunities for the newer acts.

"Sometimes these bigger artiste has to put these younger artistes in their camp as well for them to be able to travel and to work. Because sometimes young artistes may not be able to be the head of a petition, but if they are working with a particular artiste and it's legitimate, you can get work permits through mediums like that," she shared. However, the singer encouraged artistes not to be deterred or decrease their creativity due to this drastic increase.

Queen Ifrica said she will not be heading to the US any time soon but is booked for Caribbean shows before leaving for Europe.