Teddy Laidley gets artistes working

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

While many persons preparing for overseas travel check with a travel agent long before thinking of checking in at the departure desk, Teddy Laidley is a go-to agent of a different sort for many entertainers booked for shows outside Jamaica.

There are thick files at his Dumbarton Avenue, St Andrew, offices, with some instantly recognisable names on them - Jimmy Cliff, Tarrus Riley, Frankie Paul, Israel Vibration - and these are the ones that are currently in the processing pipeline.

"The road manager used to do what I do now," Laidley explained. "For the embassy, I am an agent."

In that capacity, he processes work permits for entertainers, his 'agent' status facilitated by a change at the United States Embassy in particular, two years ago.

"What used to happen in the past is that several persons were acting on behalf of the artistes," Laidley explained. In 2008, when the (US) Embassy relocated, you then had an officer to deal with permits for entertainers."

Upgraded system

The processing system was also upgraded, Laidley said, and "they asked you to submit information on yourself and your company. They licensed you as an agent who works on behalf of artistes ... . This new system makes it more transparent and accountable."

Laidley, who also does work for the National Dance Theatre Company and Stages Productions, points out that there are about 10 such agents in Jamaica. However, he said that some agents work with a specific artiste, "unlike me; I have the bulk of the artistes".

Describing his job, Laidley says "what I basically do is help prepare the artiste and entourage for interview. You can't take it for granted that the immigration officer knows of you and your work". There is also ensuring that the necessary paperwork is submitted within the required processing time.

Laidley, then, is in constant dialogue with various embassies - he also facilitates permit processing for Europe, Canada and the Schengen countries - but he is at pains to point out that he is not responsible for the names submitted for a work permit.

That is left strictly to the persons making the work offer, who submit what is known as a petition.

Preparation is key, as Laidley says sometimes, maybe due to intimidation, entertainers and entourage members are flustered by some simple questions and are turned down for a work permit.

Entertainer work permits are granted for one or three years and, when they expire, are not automatically renewed. There has to be a demand for the entertainer and another petition submitted. And he keeps up to date with those who send petitions.

Laidley says "I am familiar with quite a few promoters overseas. There is a listing I can go to to see if the promoter is a part of that listing".

Laidley points to some fine distinctions among the work permit requirements for various countries and says "you have to understand how things work with the various regions of the world".

Making the process easier

Summing up what he does, Laidley says, "it is basically making it (the work permit process) easy. I think that is why a lot of people come to me, I understand the system a little bit better". So much so that he has prepared some pre-filing documents which starts to shape the required information well ahead of submission.

Laidley also has a sticker, which he puts on the back of a passport which he is responsible for processing. It is useful for making the documents easy to identify and, in one case, proved the salvation for one person who was stopped at an immigration control in the US, the officers called Laidley as his number was on the sticker. Laidley was able to get the matter cleared up.

Laidley, who used to do a lot of road manager duties, says he is now concentrating on the work permit processing, although "I still go on the road now and then. I still assist in planning tours". And he points out that he also does visa processing for persons who are not into the business of entertainment.

"It is a complete service," Laidley said. "I enjoy it."