In a Substack newsletter, the indie rock supergroup’s frontman, A.C. Newman, told fans that Canadian members Kathryn Calder, John Collins and Todd Fancey are waiting for their visas to be approved.
The New Pornographers are smaller than usual due to visa delays.
Earlier this month, the indie rock supergroup kicked off their fall tour in support of their new album, The Former Site Of — but the full band lineup is not present.
The band’s frontman, A.C. Newman, revealed in a Substack newsletter that Canadian members Kathryn Calder, John Collins and Todd Fancey are waiting for their visas to be approved. Still, the show must go on.
Newman is joined by vocalist and keyboardist Jillette Johnson, drummer Josh Wells and bassist Noah Harmon. Following the changes, the group shared a statement on Instagram to update fans about the lineup shift, citing “widespread visa processing delays.”
In Newman’s Substack post, he explains the delays the Canadian trio has faced in getting their visas approved, sharing that it “only took 5 days to process” their P2 visas last year, but this year has been a different story.
“We started the application in February and it is still being processed. We have paid the $3,000 fee to expedite the process but that does not come with any guarantee, it might just mean that you get put on top of a few of the various endless piles of paperwork in the Kafka-esque immigration offices,” Newman writes.
“This means that Kathryn, John and Todd cannot enter the country to play music with us. We hope it might come through any day but we cannot make any bets on that. So yes…. that’s a healthy chunk of our band.”
P2 visas are described as “a U.S. nonimmigrant temporary work permit for artists, entertainers, and essential support crew performing under a reciprocal exchange program.”
Newman explains that while he was born in Vancouver, he has a green card and Global Entry into the U.S. Meanwhile, Johnson is based in Nashville, Wells lives in Chicago and Harmon resides in Los Angeles. Since Calder, Collins and Fancey live in Canada, they've faced an uphill battle for homegrown acts vying to perform across the border.
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While The New Pornographers have shaken up their lineup to accommodate the delays, many artists have had to cancel their U.S. tours for various reasons.
At the top of 2026, Toronto power-pop duo PONY were slated to perform 13 U.S. headline shows in February and March “due to the tough visa regulations,” according to an Instagram post. While they’ve yet to reschedule headlining dates, the pair have opened up for a handful of artists this year in the States.
Last April, singer-songwriter Bells Larsen cancelled his U.S. tour after U.S. government officials informed him about a then-new policy that immigration would only recognize legal ID matching a person’s sex assigned at birth. “This new policy has crushed my dreams. I’m cradling a very broken heart and the realization that I don’t know if or when I will be able to tour in the States again,” he told Billboard Canada.
Halifax pop artist T. Thomason followed suit, telling CBC that they didn’t “feel like it was worth the risk” of touring to the U.S. Around the same time, B.C. rock band Shred Kelly cancelled their tour dates due to rising touring costs and visa delays.
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Still, Newman remains optimistic about The New Pornographers’ decision to forge on. “We have each other. 2 Canadians, 2 Americans. Immigration can crush the flower but it cannot stop the spring, so to speak. Right on.”
