Rahat Fateh’s US visa request pending till submission of tax documents

ISLAMABAD: The US Embassy in Islamabad has kept Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s application for visa to participate in a concert pending due to unpaid taxes on his US income from 2015-23, barring the singer from entering the United States.

Rahat, however, claims he has paid all the taxes through his promoters in the US. “I have approached my promoters to provide me the required documents of my tax payments and will submit it in the embassy. I visited the USA recently this year,” he said, adding that if he hadn’t complied with taxes from 2015-23, the embassy wouldn’t have issued him a visa previously.

“Someone is trying to malign me and the country through these tactics,” he alleged.

The vocalist was supposed to visit the US this month to participate in a musical show organised by the Association of Pakistani Physician of North America (APPNA) on November 18, 2023. The concert was booked through Rahat’s promoter, Rehan Siddiqui, who applied for the singer’s visa and provided all the required documents to the US Embassy. The embassy, however, sent the singer a refusal note citing the reason for his tax matters on his US income from 2015-23, advising him to send the embassy the required information.

The documents show Rahat visited 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 Production. These companies sponsored the singer from 2015-23.

Rahat claims that he received the amount of these concerts after tax deduction. Therefore, it was the promoters’ responsibility to pay the tax on this income in the United States. “I have asked them to share the tax documents with him so that he could send it in the embassy.”

From 2012-23, Rahat’s all musical shows were booked through his international manager /music producer, Salman Ahmed, who is based in the UAE. Apart from booking shows, he was responsible for fulfilling tax-related matters of the singer. However, due to some personal reasons, both have parted ways recently.

The singer’s new organisers in the US believe someone has tipped off the embassy about Rahat’s tax matters, and this could be someone who remained close to him.

When contacted Salman Ahmed, former management/producer of Rahat, said his organisation represented him successfully from 2012 till recently. With mutual agreement they have respectfully maintained their relationship and then parted ways.

“During the last 11 years we have organised hundreds of concerts internationally and our relationship was ideal. This relationship changed its direction recently after Khan Sahab and his family decided that his brother in law based out of New Jersey will take care of his business matters.”

Salman’s company will act as a promoter to his shows where they will mutually agree to work.

“All his income in the United States was taxed and remains to be the responsibility of the petitioner/ the national promoter in that respective country. I am sure the tax documents will be provided to the relevant authorities,” commented Salman Ahmed.

When contacted, Dr Asim, organiser of the November 18 musical show, said whenever they invite an artist from Pakistan, they do it through some promoters. “We couldn’t even imagine that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan would be denied a visa on the tax grounds because he was recently in the States. We invited some other artists as well, and all of them have been issued visas except Rahat. There is no way the embassy checks the IRS record before issuing a visa to someone. Maybe someone has reported it to the embassy,” he added. Rehan Siddiqui — Rahat’s new promoter in the US — while talking to The News said this was his first show with the singer as a promoter. He doesn’t know about his past promoters, whether they paid his taxes or not. “I was liable to pay Khan Sahab’s taxes for this tour, but he couldn’t get the visa.”