Thursday (3/22) on The Art Newspaper website, Ermanno Rivetti reports, “The Home Office has relaxed its immigration rules for non-EU artists who are temporarily visiting the UK. The previous ‘points-based immigration system’ effectively classed visiting non-EU artists as migrants and forced them into long, and sometimes unsuccessful, visa application processes. It drew widespread criticism from the art world and London’s municipal government, but despite the change, it seems there is still some progress to be made on the issue. The new ‘permitted paid engagements’ entry route, effective from 6 April, allows non-EU artists a one month leave to enter the UK without having to go through the points-based system, provided they have been officially invited to undertake engagements with a pre-arranged fee. … However, even a formal invitation for a period longer than one month will require the artist and the host institution to apply through the points-based system, and should the initial visit need to be extended, the artist will have to leave the country and reapply through the ‘permitted paid engagements’ scheme. … Paul Hobson, the director of the Contemporary Art Society, calls the new visa scheme ‘a move in the right direction’ but says there are still restrictions on artists who, for example, might be invited to lecture at an art college for a whole term.”
Posted March 23, 2012
