T. Thomason’s US touring visa doesn’t expire until June—but the Canadian pop artist is pulling out of a festival appearance in Belfast, Maine next month because he doesn’t want to be targeted at the border as a non-binary trans man.
Last week, Thomason, 30, who splits his time between Toronto and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, announced he had dropped out of the All Roads Festival, which takes place May 16-17. He tells WIRED he made the decision after seeing President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting the trans community, including one proclaiming the US government will only recognize two sexes, male and female. He’s also been increasingly fearful after hearing stories of visitors, US visa-holders, and applicants being held at the border, including a Vancouver woman who told the Guardian she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for two weeks.
“I just thought if that’s happening to cis people, I really feel worried about what could happen to me,” Thomason says.
Toronto-and-Montreal based singer Bells Larsen, a trans man, also announced Friday that he is cancelling his spring tour because the gender on his passport, male, does not match his assigned sex at birth, potentially disqualifying him from being eligible for a US visa under the Trump administration’s new rules. Aya Sinclair, a London-based musician and trans woman, told Pitchfork she’ll be avoiding American shows “until anything changes.” Even Neil Young, a dual Canadian-American citizen, has said he’s worried about being “jailed” upon returning to the States, due to his criticisms of Trump.
But the decision not to play in America means foregoing touring income and the opportunity to build one’s fanbase in the largest music market in the world. And simply rerouting to Europe or elsewhere abroad, particularly for Canadian artists, is a costly endeavour.
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, a union that can petition the federal government to grant touring visas, told Canadian members in late March that the updated immigration rule “runs afoul of our shared values. At this time, it is unlikely the US government will pivot from this objectionable position.”
Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney Dani Oliva, a trans man, tells WIRED, “there’s been a general panic” amongst his clients in the last few weeks. Oliva, who is Thomason’s lawyer, notes that Canadian musicians who want to play in the US have two options for visas, one of which costs up to $8,000 and is “extremely onerous.” He says processing times for his clients have jumped from three to four months to eight to 10 months without paying for expedited processing.
He says he does a risk versus benefit analysis for each client looking to come to the US. But he’s worried that trans clients’ visa requests could be denied on the grounds of “misrepresentation or fraud,” if the gender on the identifying documents they submit doesn’t match up with their assigned sex at birth. That finding could result in a person being banned from the US for life unless they successfully apply for a waiver—a cumbersome process.
Despite the headaches of getting a US visa, there’s a reason people do it: money and cultural cachet.
“Let’s be real. I mean, so many artists only find their breakthrough if they tour in America,” says Kurt Dahl, a Vancouver-based entertainment lawyer. “There’s 10 times the population, it’s just more likely to get press and get attention.”
