NZ artist Bella McGoldrick had visa issues: Deported and banned from the US, she published a book about it

Kiwi-born artist Bella McGoldrick, who was deported and banned from the US, describes her ordeal and subsequent journey in her new book Visa Issues. Photo / T Rogers

Kiwi-born artist Bella McGoldrick was deported from the US and banned for life in 2022 after committing ‘visa fraud’.

Turning her experience into a book, Visa Issues, she tells the Herald’s Mitchell Hageman how it happened and why she turned a life-changing event into an incredible creative opportunity.

Living out of a suitcase and “adrift in the world,” artist Bella McGoldrick decided it was time to put pen to paper.

Through her incredible hyper-real, still-life drawings, written word and photos, the Kiwi expat set out to “share the accompanying story, the darker underbelly of an untethered life”.

But her new book Visa Issues, isn’t just about the doom and gloom of separation and uncertainty. It’s also about self-discovery, longing, and the beauty she experienced through her travels.

The book stems from a life-changing experience with US Border Control that led to her being deported and banned from America for life.

It turns out what the Wellington-born artist thought was a “grey area” was instead “black-and-white fraud” in the ruling of US Border Control agents.

“The visa I was on at that time was one where I had made this company and sponsored myself. I didn’t do it through a lawyer, but I spoke to a lawyer who said it was loophole,” the 31-year-old explained.

“It was like my friend owned the company, but I ran it and ran the day-to-day stuff. [US Border Patrol] were like, well that’s actually fraud, and fraud is punishable by a lifetime ban.”

McGoldrick started on the J1 Visa class after uni, which was valid for 12 months, then transferred to an E3 visa. The one she got deported on was her third E3 visa.

“I had only been on my final visa for six months. [For] my other ones, I had been sponsored by a US company, and the third E3 I had set up my own company with a friend who is a US citizen.”

Bella McGoldrick's new book "Visa Issues".

On her return to the US, after visiting relatives in Australia, McGoldrick was separated from her fiancé - now husband - Tyler, a US citizen, for 18 hours, locked in a holding room at San Francisco Airport.

“Time has never felt so slow,” she recalled. “It was pretty rough and pretty traumatic.”

McGoldrick is not alone. Working in the US can be notoriously hard for many creatives and self-employed people due to complex visa requirements and systems.

An RNZ story in 2019 revealed that a total of 170 New Zealanders were sent back from the US in 2017, compared to 97 the year before.

In the same year, 468 New Zealanders acquired American citizenship, compared to 565 the year before.

Christchurch heavy metal band Blindfolded and Led to the Woods was denied entry to the US earlier this year after being deemed not “big enough” to qualify for P-1B visas working visas (mainly used by touring artists and bands).

Advice for travellers from the US Embassy in New Zealand was to “apply for the visa classification that best fits their intended purpose of travel.”

“The immigration process involves multiple US government agencies,” a spokesperson said.

“In most cases, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) must first adjudicate and approve an immigrant petition before the beneficiary can apply for a US immigrant visa at a US embassy or consulate.”

For current deportation statistics, the Herald was advised to contact the Department of Homeland Security, who are yet to respond to questions.

Before her sudden deportation, McGoldrick was, in a sense, living an artist’s dream.

She had had a house and life in the Colorado mountains and had been thriving in her artistic career.

But instilled with a sense of positivity and optimism, she decided to make the best of her bad situation and has turned the ordeal into an artistic awakening of sorts.

Visa Issues contains McGoldrick's incredible photorealistic drawings, trip photographs and written word. Photo / T. Rogers

Visa Issues combines written word and a collection of hyper-real, still-life drawings from her travels in the style with which McGoldrick has forged a career.

Tyler, a photographer, also helped capture moments in their journey.

“We’d just spent three months in Australia, and Tyler didn’t have a visa for Australia, so we went to Canada and Mexico and all sorts of places. We had nowhere to be.

“During our time travelling, I became an independent artist and started to make collections based on the places we were living. I’d also be writing about it.

They did this for about two years while Tyler got his Australian residency.

The couple are now based in the sun-soaked beaches of Byron Bay, a place McGoldrick described as “ideal” for working and raising their two young children.

Born in Wellington before moving to Melbourne at age 7, McGoldrick said she was “always pretty good at art and loved it,” but the reality of career became apparent during her days studying fashion design at RMIT.

Connections soon helped kick-start commercial viability for her work.

“I started doing these fashion illustration portraits for friends, and then friends of friends, and then I started selling them,” she said.

“It kind of became this like cult - like this private-school girl thing where one person in the friendship group would get one, and then all the others would want one as well.”

Bella McGoldrick and her husband spent years travelling the world, recording her experience after her deportation from the US.

She eventually made enough money to move to New York after finishing university “pretty gung-ho” set on being a fashion designer but was put off by the concept of unpaid fashion internships.

“I was between work and wasn’t sure what to do and thought, I’ll see if I can try to sell drawings again.

“I posted on Instagram and said I’ll draw whatever you want for 100 bucks, and it kind of just went from there. That was about seven years ago, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Describing some of the drawings in Visa Issues, McGoldrick said many were examples of her attempting through her drawings to almost “create a home” that she didn’t have at the time.

“It’s interesting, because through photographs it looks like the most perfectly glamorous time, but in reality, there was a bit of a darker underbelly. I tried to kind of describe that by the cover of the book.”

Things have been “pretty busy” in recent months as the couple continue to raise their two twins, but McGoldrick said early sales and feedback of the book could lead to more writing.

She’s also released a selection of photorealistic prints called Let Me Eat Cake, which taps into an obsession with sweet treats and the recipe books she grew up with as a child.

Besides her book release, McGoldrick's new collection of detailed photorealistic drawings, Let Me Eat Cake, are also up for sale.

“Photorealistic drawings are my bread and butter, but seeing the success of [Visa Issues], maybe there are other ways we can take it.”

And what was her advice for any other artists or creatives who want to chase their American dream?

“Firstly, get a lawyer. If I could go back, I would definitely go through a lawyer,” she said.

“The other thing I’ve been saying a lot lately is that it’s so amazing in Australia and NZ, and I think sometimes it takes leaving to really appreciate it.”

Visa Issues is available now on McGoldrick’s website for $223 (Hardcover). A second-edition book will begin production in December and will ship in January.

Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.