The award-winning blues musician JW-Jones was stressed when he found out his work visa wouldn’t be approved in time for his tour through the United States starting later in January.
What was initially pegged as a five-month wait last summer stretched to over eight months, Jones said, forcing him to pay thousands more to get the visa approved quicker. As a professional musician, Jones said he’d never had a problem in the past when trying to tour the U.S.
“We started to get into December, I was on tour with my band in Mexico and I realized, ‘Okay, I don’t have my P2 work permit yet. What can I do?’”
Jones initially applied for the work visa in June 2025, and said he was conscious to give himself more than the five months of recommended wiggle room to get everything sorted.
But, as the weeks kept ticking by and nothing changed, Jones said he started to worry.
“I was like, ‘Holy cow, it’s getting really tight.’”
So, he bit the bullet just before the new year to have his visa processed quicker. The price tag? An added $2,800 U.S. on top of the regular visa fees, raising the total closer to $4,000 Cdn.
To help recoup some of the unexpected visa costs, Jones started a GoFundMe. He said he didn’t want to cancel the tour because of the financial hurdle.
“I’m not asking people to fund a dream here,” he said. “I’m asking people to help protect work that already exists. I just want to do my job.”
With each GoFundMe donation, people can opt into a tiered system of getting something in return. That includes T-shirts, an autographed CD, a new vinyl or a bundle of all Jones’ merchandise.
Since creating the donation portal on Dec. 29, Jones has raised more than $2,000 and is hopeful he’ll hit his target eventually.
But it never used to be like this, he said.
In 2019, for example, Jones said getting a visa didn’t take him more than three months. The fees were much cheaper, too, he added, and the premium processing option cost less than half as much as it does now.
Besides the increased cost of the P2 work permit, Jones said he also wished the system was more transparent.
“Unfortunately, the only thing you can check is if it’s been approved or not been approved,” he said. “I wish that we were at a time where they could say to you, ‘Your application is at X number (in the queue) and will be processed within approximately X amount of days.’”
For now, Jones is still waiting on the visa to be approved. He said he expected a confirmation early next week, leaving him a bit of time before suiting up to play the first show in Georgia on Jan. 22.
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