Can I Ask for a Waiver of Labor Consultation for My P-1B Visa Application?

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Hi William,

I am in the procese to apply for P-1B visa, as a member of an internationally recognized entertainment group. Do I have to get a Labor Consultation? or can I ask for a waiver of Labor Consultation?

Answer,

The P-1B visa applies to you if you are coming to the United States temporarily to perform as a member of an entertainment group that has been recognized internationally as outstanding in the discipline for a sustained and substantial period of time.

The labor consultation must come from a union with appropriate expertise, meaning that the union generally occupies the field of endeavor or a related one, even if it is not a collective bargaining representative in the particular field.

To obtain a consultation, prepare everything as you would for filing with USCIS but before filing, air courier a full copy of the materials, or at least enough to make the case, to the appropriate union. The union will reply directly to you. The turnaround time for union responses varies from 2 days to more than 2 weeks.

The consultation requirement is waived for purely administrative management positions, such as executive directors, and business administrators, financial officers, business representatives, and others with no direct input into the creative aspects of the production or performance, and also in cases where there is no appropriate union, as with interpreters, music librarians and even artistic administrators.

To support a waiver request on grounds of lack of an appropriate labor organization, supply a statement by the petitioner, or someone else with knowledge of the field, to the effect that from personal knowledge based on long experience in the field, there is no relevant labor organization. It is best first to check with the unions to verify that they do not “cover” a particular position.

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