Respire have cancelled their upcoming tour of the US which was set to kick off in September. The band was forced to cancel due to issues with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The band released a statement on Instagram which reads,

This one sucks a lot. Thanks to an unforgiving US immigration system, we have to cancel our upcoming September appearances. We waited months in bureaucratic silence, to be informed a couple of weeks ago that our 45-60 day processing time had turned into six months. We’ve tried everything we can and talked to USCIS, our union, and anyone available who could help. As the dates edged closer, it became clear that our hands were tied, and the only responsible thing to do was to pull the plug.

To say we (all 8 of us) are sorry would be a gross understatement. We are gutted. The irony is not lost on us that a month after releasing an album on struggles around immigration, our plans would be sidelined by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. This scenario was always a fear in the back of our minds. We worked with trusted people and applied early. Yet, like thousands of others, artists and hopeful immigrants alike, we are stuck in the same alienating whirlwind of debilitating silence and waiting.

While we've hosted dozens of American bands in Canada at New Friends Fest with a simple letter of invitation, the path for a Canadian band to play in the US is much more complicated and expensive. Some of these shows will go on without us, some will be cancelled - check with your local promoter. Our visa journey continues forward, at even greater expense, as we pay thousands of dollars in expedited fees to salvage some of our other plans. If you'd like to help keep us afloat while we thrash against the current, you can grab some merch or a record from our Bandcamp store - we'd be eternally grateful.

We will try our best to reschedule our visit to these places just as soon as we can. See you all soon.

Respire are not the only Canadian band who have had these issues in the past few months. The Anti-Queens were forced to cancel their US shows earlier this month due to the same issue. They have since been able to acquire their visas and will be rescheduling those shows. Respire released their album Hiraeth last month. Check out the post in full below.