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Unparalleled Support for Entertainment Visas
When creatives and production teams need trusted entertainment visa lawyers, Blaker & Granet LLP provides knowledgeable guidance across a wide range of immigration options. At B&G, we have deep experience with a variety of visa types used for the entertainment industry. Our Entertainment Visas Department is led by co-founding partner Jacki Granet, who was listed in Variety’s 2025 Legal Impact Report.
Jacki has well over a decade of immigration experience focused on entertainment and the arts. She has handled everything from 75+ visas for a specific high-profile feature film to individual cases for both actors/directors/cinematographers, as well as more unique artists, including a cosplayer and a contortionist. As an avid consumer of pop culture and entertainment, Jacki enjoys digging into each case to present the most comprehensive case for B&G clients.
For foreign nationals looking to perform, create, collaborate, or support a creative production in the U.S., it’s typical that their venture will require an entertainment visa. Our entertainment visa lawyers at Blaker & Granet LLP assist a variety of creatives, including:
Touring Musicians
Film & Television Actors
Stage & Theater Performers
Circus & Specialty Performers
Influencers
Standup Comedians
Voice Actors
Esports Pros
Why Choose B&G?
With a variety of entertainment visa lawyers to choose from, creatives want a team that knows the industry and can work at the speed their project requires. That’s B&G. We’ve guided solo artists, large companies, indie productions, big-name performers, and entire creative teams through the process. We put work strategies that work, crafting our approach with USCIS criteria and stand-out applications in mind.
Meet Jacki Granet
Known as the "The Entertainment Visa Lawyer for the Stars," Jacki Granet leads our Entertainment Visa Practice with unparalleled experience, from helping a high-profile feature film needings 75+ visas, to individual cases for both actors/directors/cinematographers, as well as more unique artists, including a cosplayer and a contortionist.
READ JACKI'S FULL BIOHelping You Reach Your Artistic Vision in the USA
EB-1A Visas
NIW Visas
For those seeking a long-term career within the U.S., B&G’s entertainment visa lawyers offer help with employment-based green card options. These can open the door to living and working in the U.S. permanently, which is huge for artists whose careers grow in the American entertainment industry.
The EB-1 green card is designated for people with outstanding ability in their field. It’s designed for high-level performers, directors, musicians, visual artists, and creators who have built impressive portfolios. The EB-2 NIW is intended for creatives whose work has significant value for the arts or broader culture.
We translate creative careers into compelling, USCIS-ready visa cases by grounding each petition in real accomplishments. From portfolios and credits to press, awards, and contracts, we shape the evidence into a clear, persuasive narrative that meets USCIS standards.
Every successful visa case starts with deep prep. Before anything gets filed, our Los Angeles entertainment visa lawyers build an immigration strategy that fits our client’s career and goals. In order to build a custom approach, we build a body of evidence that highlights all possible credentials, including our client's:
Portfolio
Credits
Publications
Awards
Contracts
Press
Anything that demonstrates skill and reputation
Founding our case on career accomplishments, our entertainment visa lawyers help pull the proper evidence, organize support letters, draft strong explanations, and prepare documentation that addresses the criteria impactful to the USCIS.
Timing is an integral part of the process, especially for productions working against the clock. Our legal approach keeps everything structured, synced, and moving. We also watch out for small errors that can trigger big delays, since entertainment visas are extremely detail-driven.
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Whether you need a visa on a tight timeline or are planning a long-term move to the U.S., our entertainment visa team is here to offer unparalleled support. Our legal approach centers on a clear, organized, and manageable process that simplifies immigration pathways so creatives can continue to do what they do best. Connect with our team today and tell us about your project or goals, and we’ll guide you through the next steps. At Blaker & Granet LLP, we help artists, performers, thinkers, makers, and doers make the most of the global stage. Make the U.S. the next stop on your world tour with B&G.
Proven Record of Success & 25+ Years of Combined Experience
Our Entertainment Visa Department at B&G has spent years building a reputation as an effective and innovative legal team in the Los Angeles community. We’ve helped countless creatives secure approvals, and we know how to structure a petition to hit all the right markers. With more than two decades of combined experience, we’ve encountered just about every legal scenario one could imagine. You deserve to feel confident you’re choosing a legal team that both understands the entertainment industry and has the experience needed to get real results for creators and their support staff.
Frequently Asked
O-1 regular processing can take a few months, depending on how fast USCIS is moving, how complete your evidence is, and how quickly your team signs off on everything. If your project can’t wait, premium processing bumps USCIS’s part of the timeline down to about two weeks.
Most of our entertainment clients go that route because production schedules rarely sit still. We prep cases as quickly as possible so your clock starts right away.
In general, there are activities that a foreign national may engage in while in the U.S., such as attending business meetings or negotiating a contract.
In the entertainment world, there are additional permissible activities as:
Musicians who are 1) coming to the U.S. to utilize recording facilities for recording purposes only, 2) the recording will be distributed and sold only outside the U.S., and 3) no public performances will be given.
Professional entertainers coming to the U.S. to participate in a competition for which the only remuneration is prize money and expenses.
Yes! U.S. immigration cares about where the productive work takes place. Thus, if you are filming, designing, performing, or otherwise working in the U.S., you need a work visa.
This is one of the biggest misconceptions we see, so we make sure clients get the right status from the start.
Yes! Even one day of work is considered work by U.S. immigration.
Press comes in all shapes and sizes, and USCIS likes a mix of reputable sources.
Major outlets obviously carry strong weight, but well-known industry publications, credible online magazines, podcasts with recognized audiences, and verified interviews also count. Even niche press works if it’s established, respected, and clearly tied to your field.
We help clients sort through their coverage and choose the pieces that actually move the needle.
Yes! We handle RFE responses for our own clients and for people who started their application somewhere else and need help fixing issues.
We go through the original submission, figure out what USCIS wants, and create a detailed response that strengthens the case instead of just reacting to the request.
No. The standard for the green card is much higher than the standard for the O-1B. In addition, for the extraordinary green card, you must also show sustained acclaim and that you have risen to the top of the field.
Yes, and tons of performers do. Assistants, stylists, makeup artists, tour crew, choreographers, videographers - support teams are part of almost every entertainment project. There are specific visa categories for these roles, often tied to the main artist’s petition.
We handle the entire group, so everyone has the right status, and no one gets held up at the airport or by USCIS.
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