Liza Minnelli sweated on her UK visa

The British government’s recent changes to the UK visa system have sparked controversy among the arts community at home and overseas.

The visa changes, in effect since November 2008, have been described as the “most contemptible ever devised.” They are having an adverse effect on the many UK organisations who rely on overseas artists and academics visiting the country for talks, exhibitions, concerts or artists’ residencies.

All non-EU visitors must complete a highly time-consuming points-based and costly process to secure their UK visa. And there exists even more bureaucratic controls while they are in the UK. Many artists and performers have found themselves banned, delayed or deported from the UK as a direct result of the new visa laws.

Artists who come from a country which does not issue a UK visa must travel to another country to obtain them. This adds time and cost to the visa application process.

For many African artists in particular, this is proving one hurdle too many and the spiralling costs of getting a visa means travelling to the UK is often not financially feasible. For UK organisers, looking to bring over international talent to the UK, the extra cost of visas cannot be absorbed in budgets.

Liam Clifford, director of visa consultancy Global Visas says: “Getting a visa is always a complex issue but over the last few years the costs of UK visas and work permits have increased quite dramatically. To add the cost of having to travel, what can be many thousand of miles, to your nearest visa issuer, can understandably be a step too far for many performers or British organisers who operate on tight budgets.”

London-based Manifesto Club is spearheading a campaign aimed at overturning the current visa restrictions for artists wanting to work in the UK. They have also set up an online petition.

Campaign head Manick Govinda, writing for independent current affairs website Spiked, explains the problem: “The new points-based system is designed to keep certain types of people out. Many small, unincorporated, autonomous arts projects will have a tough job getting the necessary documents to invite non-EU overseas colleagues to the UK. Artists who want to collaborate, support each other and explore collective work will lose their flexibility and freedom to choose who they work with internationally.”

There has been widespread condemnation for the new UK visa law from both the international artistic community and the British mainstream press. Notable incidents already reported include:
• The barring of three guest poets from the Ledbury Poetry Festival in England.
• Canadian singer Alison Crowe and two of her band members being detained, fingerprinted and then deported after 11 hours of interrogation by UK immigration officials at Gatwick Airport.
• Congolese band Konono No 1 missed a gig celebrating African music at London’s Tate Modern in May this year as they could get their visas processed in time.
• Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov was forced to cancel a recent UK tour because he could not produce the required UK visa paperwork.
• US singer Liza Minnelli nearly missed her first UK tour in 20 years due to visa red-tape.

Guardian journalist Henry Porter is another prominent supporter of the Manifesto Club’s campaign. Writing in his blog, Porter says: “[N]ew rules barring artists from visiting this country and so enriching our culture are some of the most contemptible ever devised, even by this narrow-minded apology for a government.”

UK Immigration Minister Phil Woolas was quick to respond to Porter’s criticism: “The government is acutely aware of how important the flourishing arts sector is to Britain, and we have never been less than supportive. Foreign artists play a major part of this industry’s success – but that does not mean they will be treated any differently from the millions of people who apply to visit the UK each year,” he wrote.

He added: “Genuine foreign artists are important to us – they make a huge contribution to the cultural and of course the economic wealth of this country. The last thing we want to do is trip anyone up or put them off coming here. That is why we worked very closely with representatives of the arts sector in devising the points-based system.”

Non-EU artists coming to Britain must now not only show proof of who they are, including fingerprints, but also show they have an established sponsor willing to take full financial responsibility for them and to vouch for all their activities while in the UK.

It seems the British government needs to come up with a more creative visa solution for visiting artists worldwide.