We’re surprised at Ears To The House that no one has yet adopted the name DJ Visa Issues recently – such is the number within the industry which seem to be having problems. Yet another weekend brought about a new batch of DJs having to cancel gigs, and all because they can’t legally enter the country.

So what’s the explanation? It appears that the pandemic is to blame, like for almost everything else travel related at the moment. Vast swathes of people left the industry during the first few months and never returned – and the same thing seems to have happened to visa applications.

Applications to enter the UK, for example, have a typical turnaround time of seven weeks right now – that’s opposed to the three weeks in more normal times. Processing a visa for the USA can take anywhere from two weeks to a few months, and if you’re planning to play in Australia, your application could take several months – you’re in a queue behind two years of applications when their border was closed.

You’ll find numerous examples online – but here’s just two for the time being. In recent days, 51st State Festival have announced that Charly Black won’t be appearing due to “visa issues” this coming weekend. And Sam Divine had to cancel her gigs in Texas – despite having done gigs in the USA a few months ago with no such problems.

Visa delays, security delays, flight delayed, racing to get to venues on time before heading off to do the same all over again for the next gig. It’s almost enough to make you feel sympathy for touring DJs…