Pop singer Cheryl Cole arrives on the red carpet at the 64th Cannes Film Festival in this May 13, 2011 file photograph. Cole was reported on May 25, 2011 to have been dropped as a judge on the U.S. version of TV singing contest "The X Factor".[Photo/Agencies]

LOS ANGELES  – In her continuing drama with the producers of "The X Factor," it appears that ousted judge Cheryl Cole may yet be headed back to the United States.

The British pop singer -- who was dropped from the U.S. version of the show after four days for reasons that remain unclear -- was willing to return to the U.K. version of the show, as its producers had wished.

But TMZ reports that she was owed $1.5 million in her contract for the U.S. season regardless of whether she appeared on the show, and she wanted to be paid the agreed-upon amount as well as a separate fee for performing in the British show. An industry source told The Hollywood Reporter that producer Fremantle bristled at this point and the two sides are in a stand off.

To avoid breaching her contract for the U.S. show, Cole will have to seek a nonimmigrant work visa in the days ahead, return to the U.S. and turn up for "X Factor" tapings. Whether she will have a role in the show is unclear; certainly it's possible that the two sides will reach some sort of agreement returning her to a role in the U.S. show to end an embarrassing public dispute.

Cole has not yet applied for a visa due to paparazzi hounding her, according to a source in her camp, but intends to do so. The show's next auditions in New Jersey are scheduled for June 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Cole will be lucky to make it. The waiting time for a visa appointment at the U.S. embassy in London is typically seven days, and it takes an additional five days to process the application, according to the embassy's website.

Fremantle and Fox, which will air the show in September, declined to comment. A source close to Cole says "nothing would make her happier" than to collect the payout she's due. Cole and series creator Simon Cowell's representatives also declined to comment.