Artists and Athletes – P Performance Visa

The P visa category includes P-1 internationally-known athletes (either individuals or members of a group or team) or entertainment group; P-2 individual and group performing artists participating in a reciprocal exchange program; P-3 culturally unique artists; and support personnel for primary P visa holders. P-1 athlete applicants must have received international recognition, either individually if the applicant is applying individually, or as a team if the applicant is applying with a team, which means a high level of achievement in the field evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered.

P-1 entertainer applicants must belong to an entertainment group that has received sustained international recognition for a substantial period of time, and each member must have had a relationship with the group for more than a year, with some exceptions. For P-2s, a labor union must be involved in establishing (or acknowledging the validity of) the exchange program between the U.S. and foreign country in which the applicant participates. P-3s are for applicants coming to the U.S. to develop, interpret, represent, coach, or teach an art or discipline that can be classified as a culturally unique style of artistic expression, methodology, or medium that is unique to a particular country, nation, society, class, ethnicity, religion, tribe, or other group. Essential support personnel do not perform and cannot work apart from principal Ps, but provide highly skilled essential services that are integral to a performance and cannot readily be provided by a U.S. worker. Consultation with an appropriate labor union/peer group is required in all cases.