America refused to grant visa to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

To obtain a visa, IRS documentation regarding tax payment and legal documents must be provided by Bollywood Events LLC: US ​​Embassy. Photo file

ISLAMABAD: The US Embassy in Islamabad has refused to issue a visa to singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan to attend a concert due to non-payment of taxes on income earned in the US between 2015 and 2023.


The US Embassy says that in order to get a visa, you have to provide IRS documentation regarding tax payments from 2015 to 2023 and legal documents from Bollywood Events Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, however, asserts that he paid all taxes through his US promoters, LLC.


Rahat Fateh Ali Khan said that he has contacted his promoters and asked them to provide the required documents for payment of taxes and after that these documents will be submitted to the embassy.


The singer said that he had visited the US this year and if he had not paid the taxes for the said period, the embassy would not have issued the visa in the first place.


On November 18, 2023, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was scheduled to travel to the United States to take part in a musical performance arranged by the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America.


The concert was booked by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's promoter Rehan Siddiqui, the promoter himself applied for the singer's visa and provided the necessary documents to the embassy, ​​but the embassy rejected the singer on his US income during 2015-23. Visa has been refused citing tax issues.


The documents show that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan traveled to the US in the past through four different promoters, including The Music World LLC, The Vibrant Media Group LLC, Desi Fest 2018 LLC, and Sai Productions. These companies sponsored Rahat Fateh from 2015-23.


The singer claims that he received the money from these concerts after tax was deducted, so it was the responsibility of the promoters to pay tax on this income in the US.


From 2012-23, all musical shows of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan were booked by his international manager/music producer Salman Ahmed who is based in UAE.


Apart from booking shows, he was also responsible for handling Rahat Fateh's tax affairs, but due to personal reasons, the two have ended their relationship.


The singer's new handlers in the US are of the opinion that someone tipped off Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's tax affairs to the embassy and it could be someone close to him. When contacted Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's former manager/producer Salman Ahmed said that he has been with him since 2012, in the last 11 years we have done hundreds of concerts internationally, our relationship was ideal, recently. I Khan Sahib decided that his first cousin would look after all his affairs.


When approached, Dr. Asim, the musical concert organizer for November 18, stated that they always welcome artists from Pakistan through promoters. Visas will be denied on the basis that they had come to the US in the recent past, we invited some other artistes and all except Rahat Fateh Ali Khan got visas. There is no way that The embassy checks tax records before issuing a visa to someone who may have reported it to the embassy.


Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's new promoter in America, Rehan Siddiqui while talking to The News said that as a promoter this was his first show with Rahat Fateh Ali, we don't know if his promoters paid the singer's tax in the past. Or not, even though the visa was not received, it was our responsibility to pay their taxes on this trip.