My Visa Got Terminated...Please help!!!!

[visagirl1976 0]

Hi again everyone...

As some of you will know I've been posting off and on for the past few months about the situation with my US employer. For those of you that aren't aware of my situation I'm just going to recap quickly.

I'm a musician based in London and I was asked by a US band to come and work for them. Both of us worked together to apply for a P3 Visa and after lots of hard work and money it was approved. My Visa was valid from September 2013 to September 2014. I was asked to go on tour all over the US with this band and I completed that tour between September - November 2013. There were a few bumps along the way but I'm very easy going and got along with everyone for the most part. My employer on the other hand is a very difficult person to deal with, you never really know what kind of mood he's going to be in when you see him and he was very aggressive and at times extremely difficult to have a conversation with as he would be screaming at you for (in my opinion) not really much at all. He is also incredibly controlling and doesn't like anyone doing anything unless it goes through him and he hates feeling as though he's loosing control (and lets you know it!). While I was in the US I met a very nice lady and we became very close (we're both female) - to complicate things more she was the bass player in the band I was working in! My employer and the rest of the band were extremely ANTI our relationship (not for any homophobic reasons, well I don't think anyway) and both she and I were banned from having any kind of contact with each other and they tried to stop us sitting next to each other on the tour bus (I know, a little bit much). After 2 weeks the guitarist was sacked, and then a week before the tour ended my new lady friend was sacked too, and I believe a large contributing factor was they couldn't stand us being in a relationship. So I flew home to the UK and she flew back to New Mexico where she is based. We've been Skyping a lot. And missing each other an awful lot Another factor that made a huge difference to me, was that before I applied for my Visa I was told that we would be playing 30 shows and earning around $2250. My employer also wrote on my Visa application that I would be earning $1,500 per month. All great. Our agreement was that I would pay for my flight (which was nearly £700) and half of the fast tracking of my Visa (another $500). What actually happened is that we played 18 shows and in the 3 months I was in the US I was given $1450...drastically less that what I was expecting Which had a huge impact when I came home in December as I borrowed the money for my flight and had to pay it back! We also had a lot more time off than I was expecting and in that time we had to buy our food and look after ourselves, which was also an expense I wasn't expecting. So I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and have been posting on here asking for people's advise and thoughts on my situation. Thing is, my employer wanted me to come back to the states and work between January and September this year (2014). Trouble is they only had 2 gigs in January (at $75 per gig), 2 in Feb and then 3 in March, none in April and 4 between May and September! I explained to my employer that I couldn't possibly survive on such a small amount of money and I asked if I could work for other people to earn more money, to which he replied no. I then asked him if I could be based with my US lady friend so I wouldn't have to pay any bills, he also replied no. I told him that if I couldn't work for other people to get more money that he would need to pay me a retainer for wanting me to be exclusively in the band! And guess what...the answer was a big fat no.

So 2 weeks ago I Skyped with him and explained that I wouldn't be able to come over and work on such a small amount of money and that it would be better for me to stay here earn as much as I can because I needed to support myself. He said fine. It all ended a lot nicer than I thought. Now thing is, I would like I visit my lady friend. I miss her and my Visa is valid until September 2014 and at any time my employer could have called on me until then....the amount of money we paid to obtain the Visa was the same for 1 month or a year. It didn't cost anything to terminate it and we're talking about me visiting for a few weeks and coming home. The other problem is I couldn't apply for a tourist Visa whilst I still have a P3....so as I didn't want to go to the US and assume that all was good with my P3 - I reluctantly emailed my employer and asked what they were planning to do with my Visa. My employer replied to my email by saying that technically as I'm no longer employed by his company my Visa would no longer be valid. To which I replied - it's only not valid if you go ahead and terminate it! To which he said, leave it with me...don't worry, everything will be fine and I'll find out what's the best thing to do. I waited. And waited. And I sent 3 more emails before I got a response, which was 'I need some more information about this venue in the UK that you told me about as I don't seem to be having much luck with the contact info you gave me!!'...BUT WHAT ABOUT MY VISA? I asked....'I'm really busy right now but can we Skype tomorrow about that?' my employer said, to which he never showed up and I had to wait another 2 nights before he finally Skyped - only to tell me he had notified Homeland Security that I was no longer working for his company and he's also notified the Embassy in London and apparently had conformations through from both of them that my Visa was no longer valid and if I decided to travel to the USA I wouldn't be able to on my Visa.

Can this be? Can someone just terminate a Visa? It seems rather one sided? Surely something has to be in writing or you have to have notice? How does it all work? Am I being unreasonable?.....

So many questions....but your thoughts are as always extremely appreciated and thank you so much for reading this far!

[Merrytooth 5,748]

Well, your employer parted ways with you, your employment based P-3 visa of course will be terminated

[Hypnos 6,578]

It makes sense that if you are no longer employed by the employer who sponsored you then they terminate the visa; I don't know for sure but I'd be astounded if it wasn't a DHS requirement in this post-9/11 period.

Entering on your P-3 when you knew you were not going to be working for your sponsoring employer might have opened you up to possible misrepresentation charges also, and that is certainly something you don't want.

It sounds like your employer was kindof a #######, and you're likely better off without him.

If you're still eligible you can still enter the US on the VWP to visit your girlfriend.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Hypnos

[Avery Cates 1,141]

So your intention was to use your work visa as a tourist visa.

Not what it's for.

The good news is, now you can apply for a tourist visa. Being from England you can actually just breeze through on a VWP.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Your work visa was conditioned on your employment. Once you were terminated, your visa automatically becomes void because you no longer have the job.

Your notice about this is in the instructions when you applied for the visa.

You are being unreasonable because you failed to understand the conditions on the visa and thinking you can use it when you no longer have the job that the visa was dependent on.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Bad news: Your P-3 visa was terminated at the moment your employment ended, even if one sided. The risk always falls on the beneficiary which means you pretty much got screwed.

Good news: If you have a GB passport you can enter the US on the VWP and visit your girlfriend.

Suggestion: Don't try and use the P-3 to reenter the US because it may end up backfiring and you being banned.

It may not be the best solution but you can still come and visit and if things get serious between the two of you and you decide to tie the knot, there is a visa for that too.

Good luck!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Why can't you just visit on the VWP? You can do that while you have a P-3. This seems like a long confusing story for nothing...

[Boiler 45,912]

Assuming you wish to visit, the VWP is the obvious choice.

If you wish to work then you need an Employer to sponsor you.